Alice Gunness

Alice Gunness, 91 passed away at Eventide in Moorhead, MN on February 28, 2025. Alice was born on July 20, 1933, on the family farm near Richville, MN to Swedish immigrant parents John and Ottilia (Strandberg) Bjorklund. She was baptized and confirmed at the Lutheran church in her hometown of Richville. She completed eight years of school in the town’s one-room schoolhouse and continued to Perham high school where she graduated in the class of 1951. She lived to celebrate her 70th high school reunion.

Alice graduated from NDAC (now NDSU) in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in Home Economics Education with a minor in English. It was also there she met her future husband, Donald Gunness of Abercrombie, ND, while he was taking winter agricultural courses.

After graduation, Alice taught school for one year at Appleton, MN, while she and Donald were engaged to be married. They were united in marriage in 1956 and built a home on their farmstead in rural Abercrombie, where they lived together for 60 years. To this union five children were born and raised: Peter, Mary, Sonja, Arthur and Sarah.

Alice was a devoted wife and mother. She was a very active member of Emmanual Lutheran Church. She taught Sunday School for years, was a Sunday School Superintendent, and later a council member. She and Donald were devout Christians who gave their children the gift of faith.

Alice was very capable. For decades, she loved to garden, sew, cook and entertain. She and Donald would regularly host big family holiday dinners. With her background in Home Economics, she handily made elegant and delicious sit-down dinners for 25 people. These regular family get-togethers where everyone was invited were an expression of Alice and Donald’s deep love for family.

Alice worked hard raising five kids while Donald farmed all those years. She was always willing to contribute, therefore she kept the books and filed the taxes for decades. When Donald transferred his time and talents to beekeeping, Alice was on board, pitching in wherever needed.

At age 59, when Donald invented a machine for the apiary or beekeeping industry, he gave credit to God and his wife Alice. As she encouraged him to build a better machine that would remove the wax off the honeycomb. Donald’s invention revolutionized the harvesting of honey. He patented his invention and built the machines on the home farm, while Alice took phone calls and made sales with beekeepers near and far, who became their customers and friends.

When Donald passed away after 60 years of marriage, Alice persevered. She mourned her beloved Donald, but “made up her mind” to enjoy moving into assisted living at Riverview Place in Fargo.

There, Alice thrived as she made new friends and joined the newly formed writing group. There, Alice wrote the stories of her life. These were essentially love letters to her kids and grandkids about her happy memories of farm life and seeing the hand of God and his divine orchestration. With the help of her writing instructor and dear friend, Dr. Karla Smart-Morstad and her tech-savvy husband David, her two Nurtured by Nature memoirs were self-published. These stories were often humorous tales about the family’s favorite farm animals. Or accounts of the different wildlife sighted on the farm, including the aptly named trumpeter swans.

After six years living at Riverview Place, she transferred to Eventide in Moorhead, to receive more care, where she remained until her passing.

She is preceded in death by her husband Donald, and his and her siblings.

Left to mourn are her five children and her eight grandchildren and her eight great grandchildren: Peter (Sue) Gunness, Lucy (Vance) Audrie and Ezra Kerber, Hans (Ann Marie) Gunness; Mary (Dr. John) Sanderson, Mark (Mikayla) and Ivy Sanderson, Soren (Kristen) and Otto Sanderson; Sonja (Clarence) Bachmeier, Baret (Jessica) Wyatt and Charlotte Bachmeier, Kate (Zach) Blakely and Kyla Kinnison; Arthur Gunness; Sarah (Dr. Geir) Silje and Trond Ostrem.

There will be a funeral at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Abercrombie, ND to celebrate a life well lived on Friday at 2:00. Arrangements made by Boulger Funeral Home.

Memorial contributions may be given to the Emmanual Lutheran Church.