Anne Leirness

Anne Leirness, age 92, died Thursday, December 30, 2004 in the Halstad, MN Living Center. Anne Meline was born September 14, 1912 in Soderham, Sweden. She emigrated to the United States with her family in April 1913 through Ellis Island, New York to the Galesburg, Illinois area. The family stayed there for two years before moving to the Traill County, ND area. They lived on several rented farms in Traill County and lived for ten years on a farm near Hillsboro, ND where Anne graduated from high school. After high school graduation, she moved to the Minneapolis area and was in her second year of nurses training when she became will with a mysterious illness that caused her to lose all her hair and nails. After a year of recovery at the family farm, she returned to Minneapolis where she became a legal secretary after attending business school. She worked in downtown Minneapolis for about 8 years for several attorneys before World War II broke out. When World War II started, she rode a troop train to Portland, Oregon with her brother, Bill and joined her sister, Margaret in working at a ship factory in Portland. After the war in Europe was over, she traveled with Margaret to New York City for the VE celebration in the spring of 1945. After that she returned to the family farm. When Alfred Leirness returned from the war, Anne married him on January 26, 1947 in Hendrum, MN. They lived on his family farm until 1958 when they moved to a small farm near Halstad where they lived until he died in 1983. In 1985 she moved to a house in Halstad where she lived by herself until October 2004 when she moved to the Halstad Living Center where she died on December 30, 2004. She is survived by her two children, Joyce (Dennis) Kruse, Halstad, MN, and Alan (Sandy) Leirness, Woodbury, MN; three grandchildren, Tim, Jeff, and David Leirness, all Woodbury; her baby brother, Albert (Bernice) Meline, Hendrum, MN. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, and friends. Preceded in death by her husband, Alfred, her parents, her sister Margaret, and brothers, Bill, Gus, and John Meline. Funeral: 10:00 a.m. Monday, Halstad Lutheran Church, Halstad, MN Prayer Service: 7:00 p.m. Sunday Wildeman Funeral Home, Hillsboro, ND Visitation: 5-7 Sunday in the funeral home and one hour before the funeral in the church. Burial: Halstad South Cemetery, Halstad, MN arrangements by Wildeman Funeral Home, Hillsboro, ND