Published May 14 2010
Rosetta ‘Tootie’ Strand Dec. 9, 1919 – May 11, 2010MINNEAPOLIS

“Tootie” (Johnson) Strand, 90, of Minneapolis, formerly of Willmar, died Tuesday morning at Mount Olivet Careview Center in Minneapolis.

MINNEAPOLIS — Rosetta Kathryn “Tootie” (Johnson) Strand, 90, of Minneapolis, formerly of Willmar, died Tuesday morning at Mount Olivet Careview Center in Minneapolis.
Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Monday at Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar. Burial will be at Cloverleaf Memorial Park Cemetery.
Visitation will be for one hour prior to the service on Monday.
Tootie was born Dec. 9, 1919, near Hector, the daughter of George and Henrietta (Anders) Johnson. She grew up and received her education in the Hector community.
On Sept. 5, 1942, Tootie was united in marriage to Donald A. Strand in Monterey, Calif. Following Don’s discharge from the Army, they made their home in Willmar. They later moved to Minneapolis and then to California until his retirement in 1981, when they returned to Willmar.
Tootie enjoyed coffee time with her family and friends. She also enjoyed traveling, gardening and baking. She will be best remembered for giving so much of herself to others.
She is survived by her four children, Butch (and Barb) Strand of Minneapolis, Candy (and Jim) Coyle of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., Kevin (and DeLayne) Strand of Stillwater and Jann (and Chip) Cruise of Oklahoma City, Okla.; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Also surviving are two brothers, Marvin (and Cecelia) Johnson of California and Burton Johnson of Australia; and one sister, Byrma (and Irwin) Tallakson of Willmar, besides other relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Donald in 2001; two sisters, Evelyn Anderson and twin sister, Tootsie Larson; and six brothers, Harold, George Jr., Vernon, LaVerne, Arvin and Alfred in infancy.

Donald Strand age 2

Donald pictured with his mom and dad leaving for the army

From Candy 3/13/10

Grandpa looks pretty young in this photo. Could this be the house and stove that we knew as kids? I was fascinated by it...it had a little door with a mica window.

My dad said that grandpa loved to read. I wonder where he got his books. I know that he got the Swedish language newspaper from Minneapolis. Look at that nose. Did anyone inherit it? Candy

Picture from Candy

Strand family 1919
Front Row: Louis, Ted, Lillian, and Tilda holding Donald

Back Row
Roy, Ellen and Julius

David Julius Strand was born April 15, 1938 in Wilmar, Minnesota to Julius and “Fern” Strand. He grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota with his sister, Susan (now living in Pennsylvania). Dave graduated from high school in 1955 later St. Cloud College and then graduated from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

From 1959 – 1962 he served at Sunrise Baptist Church in Custer, Washington

1962 – 1973 Edgewood Baptist Church in Edmonds, Washington
(from 1969 to 1973) he was the Chaplain for the Edmonds Fire Department

1973 to 1978 Immanuel Baptist Church in Denver Colorado and was appointed in 1976 to be chaplain of the Senate of the General Assembly of the State of Colorado.

In 1978 through the early 80’s Dave served at Bethel Baptist Church in Galesburg, Illinois and from 1986 to 2003 served at Bonnie Brae Baptist Church in Denver where he retired.

Dave served on various Boards throughout his “career” including Chairman of the Christian Education Board of the Columbia Baptist Conference, Chair of the Christian Education Board, Mission Board Chair and helped build Mission Hills Baptist through the extension office all in the Rocky Mountain Region. He also has his hand in a church in Gillette,Wyoming and served on the Minister’s Council and Asian International Ministry while in Colorado.

He is married to Millie Strand.

3 daughters
7 grandchildren
and a Pekinese, Phoebe whom he loved very much.


Obit

Pastor David J. Strand an authentic and gentle servant of GOD passed away April 6 in Denver. He was IN LOVE with his wife, Millie. He loved his 3 daughters, his 7 grandchildren, his sister, friends, congregations and had a special “adopted” grandfather relationship with his young neighbor, Anlan Du. Born in 1938 in rural Minnesota, GOD chose Dave at the age of 20 to use his hardworking farm boy upbringing to plant and cultivate the seeds of God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ. And though his family and friends know that he is “flying on eagles wings”, the world will miss a man like this. A Celebration of Life service will be Thursday, Apr. 9th at 10:00am at the Chapel at Cherry Hills Community Church, 3900 Grace Blvd. Highlands Ranch.


The pictures above are from various times of David's life: Early age, high school graduation (1955), a family visit in Denver (about 1995) and Matthew's last time with his Uncle Dave (2006).

Information from Butch on 3/1/2010:


I found one of Karin Strand's wedding picture. Her husband's last name was Westling. Ellen (Strand Larson) wrote, "Dad's (Loius Strand) sister Karin Strand Westling. Married a year or so, passed away with her first child. Baby passed away a week later. Don't know year".

BTW, Dad said that Westling was a nice guy and kept in touch with Grandpa (Louis Strand). He remarried and had a family.

Erick Julius Strand (12/15/1904--10/18/1984)

Fern Leona Penn Strand (9/1/1911--1/15/01)

Married 2/28/1931

Julius and Fern lived on a farm close to Svea, Minnesota. This was the same farm where Louis and Tilda Strand had lived and raised their six children. In 1967, Julius sold his small farm for $144 an acre. Their son David had a church in Edmonds, Washington and Julius and Fern really wanted to be near their two granddaughters. This was a time where small farmers were having a hard time since they did not have the money to invest in the large farm equipment that was used by those farmers who had hundreds of acres of farmland. This was a gutsy move for a man who was 62 years old and had always lived in one place. They bought a mobile home in Everett Washington and Julius worked as a custodian for the Edmonds School District in Edmonds, Washington. From there they moved to Portland Oregon where they were custodians for a church. Finally, they moved to Denver, Colorado, where they lived until they passed away.
Living on the farm had its difficulties. Winter weather in Minnesota was always a challenge and even more so one winter when their adopted daughter got a very serious ear infection and became delirious. They had to call upon Wally Johnson to bring down his tractor and plow the driveway so they could get out taking Susan to the hospital. Numerous times Julius would be out on the tractor working in the fields when he would spot a funnel cloud, come home, and get everyone in the cellar. Julius knew how devastating the tornado could be as he had seen his chicken house picked up and set on top of his garage. He had also seen a piece of straw driven into the telephone pole. Julius did not always have cattle on the farm but when he did, they presented challenges too. It always seem that whenever there was an important function to attend, the cows would get out and Julius had get them all back in the barn before the family could leave. Then there was the mad bull that stepped on Julius’s foot and did a number on his toenail. Julius was a farmer but not on Sundays. He was very active with the Blomkest Baptist Church holding numerous rolls such as a Deacon, or Sunday school teacher for the adult class. For a person who never went beyond 6th grade, he was an extremely bright and intelligent man.
Julius and Fern were never afraid of hard work. Throughout their years on the farms, they always picked up extra jobs as they could find them, as income from farming was never guaranteed. They were married in 1931 and knew full well the effects of the Great Depression. They were hoping to have a large family to help on the farm but that was not meant to be. Story is that Fern lost five babies at childbirth. Their son David was born in the middle and in 1949, they adopted a little girl from the Children’s Home Society in Minneapolis Minnesota. Julius worked on and on for Fred Norling building soybean bins on farms around the state. Most of the time, he would only be gone for a day but there were occasional overnight trips. Fern also worked very hard. Several of the jobs she had off the farms included, working at a nursing home, cleaning office buildings and working in a turkey plant. Oh did Fern ever love to cook and Sunday was her special day. She would stick that roast in the oven before the family headed off to church and if there were visitors in church that day, Fern would invite them to the house for a meal.
Julius was very close to his daughter. Dying of stomach cancer, he and Fern got on a plane and flew to Seattle from Denver to see his “little girl” one more time. That would be the last time they ever spent together as he died within the following month. Since Julius did not believe in cremation, his body was air shipped from Denver back to Minnesota for burial at the Evergreen Cemetery outside of Blomkest. Fern passed away in January of 2001 from complications following hospitalized for Alzheimer’s Disease.