July 28, 1918 - April 11, 2006
WILLMAR -- Nellie Mae Kleven, 87, of Willmar died Tuesday at the St. Cloud Hospital.
The service will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar. Burial will be at Cloverleaf Memorial Park Cemetery in Willmar.
Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service at the church. Arrangements are with Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar. Memorials are preferred to the Vinje Lutheran Church Children's, Youth or Music Ministries at Vinje Lutheran Church.
She was born July 28, 1918, near Depauw, Ind., to Daniel and Rella (Harmon) Taylor. Her family later moved to a farm near Olivia. She grew up and attended school in Olivia and graduated from high school in 1936. She graduated from Minneapolis Business College in 1938. She worked at the Renville County Court House in Olivia. She moved to Willmar in 1946 and worked as a bookkeeper for the Kandiyohi County Highway Department.
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She married Wallace Kleven on April 19, 1947, in Willmar. They lived on the Kleven farm east of Willmar. She attended the Glencoe Normal School and St. Cloud State College and graduated with a degree in education. She taught for several years in various rural schools and later taught third grade at Lincoln Elementary School in Willmar from 1968 to 1983. She lived at Sunrise Village in Willmar for several years.
She was a member of Vinje Lutheran Church and served on the altar guild and church council, and was a confirmation mentor and Sunday school teacher. She volunteered at radiaiton/oncology at Rice Memorial Hospital and at Roosevelt and Kennedy Elementary Schools.
She is survived by her children: Daniel (and Deb) Kleven of Willmar, Jodi (and Thom) Sandberg of Minneapolis, Kathleen Kleven of Minneapolis, Lisa (and Eric) Lehrer of Chanhassen; and eight grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband in 1991; and five brothers.
