Malvera Ann (Nygaard) Wohlsdorf, 85

March 10, 1938 —

April 13, 2023

 

CRESCO - Malvera Ann (Nygaard) Wohlsdorf, age 85, passed away in Cresco, Iowa on April 13, 2023.

A Celebration of Life will be held on May 6, 2023 at 1:30 p.m. with a visitation starting at 11 a.m. at the Heritage Events Center, 229 3rd Ave West, Cresco (upper floor).

Malvera was born on March 10, 1938 in Fargo, N.D. Her parents were Monrad Malvin Nygaard and Lila Vera (Avery) Nygaard. When she was born, her father wanted to combine his and her mother’s middle names to form her name. So, Malvin and Vera became Malvera. She always told everyone that she was the only Malvera in the world, and she was quite proud of that.

She was four years old when she and her family moved to Ridgeway, Iowa from Fargo to help her grandpa, Hans Nygaard, on his farm. Malvera went to country school as a child and attended high school in Cresco. She was a straight A student and loved art and music. She played percussion in the high school band. She played piano, guitar, accordion, concertina and other instruments. She sang in choir and also in a quartet with some friends after she was married.

On Feb. 16, 1957, at age 18, she married her high school sweetheart, Roger Wohlsdorf.

They had two children, one son, Kim Roger, and one daughter, Wendy Jo. She loved spending time with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She had special memories with all of them, and she loved bragging about them to anyone and everyone.

Malvera worked at REC and then as a paralegal for several years. She decided to start her own tax and bookkeeping business. After many years, she sold her business to Julie Pemble and continued doing taxes for her at H&R Block. She did taxes for 55 years and knew so many people! She had amazing relationships and many friendships with her clients and often referred to some of them as her other kids.

Roger and Malvera spent many years at their cabin on Spirit Lake in Aitkin, Minn. She loved riding on and driving the pontoon, watching the loons, fishing, seeing the amazing sunrises, sitting in her screened in porch away from the mosquitos, visiting with the neighbors and sitting on the pontoon when parked at the dock. She called it her floating patio.

Once a month, Malvera would meet up with her lifetime friends from high school. They were the Coffee Girls. They have been getting together for over 50 years.

She also enjoyed the 50-plus years of New Year’s Eve card party traditions with the Lienhards and Hubkas.

Malvera had fun going to casinos with Roger and her friends. The last few years, Verlaine and Sue were her partners in crime and made numerous trips to the casinos. The excuse for ending up at a casino was that she loved driving her car, and the car seemed to know the way there. They didn’t come home rich, but their friendship, fun and laughter offered her another form of wealth.

Malvera was a HUGE Minnesota Vikings fan! She would scream, cheer and yell “WooHoo” when they scored. She would’ve preferred being in the huddle with the players so she could tell them what their next play should be, but she just had to coach them from her living room.

She had a close relationship with her nieces and nephews. Those on the Nygaard side called her Auntie Mal and those on the Wohlsdorf side called her Malberry. They were all very special to her, and they always said she was their favorite aunt!

Her wishes were to donate her body to science to help educate students in the medical field.

She is survived by her son, Kim Roger (Diane) Wohlsdorf; her daughter, Wendy Jo Wohlsdorf; four grandchildren, Jessica (Joel) Ward, Caleb (Lindsey) Wohlsdorf, Shane Vorwald and Catalina Vorwald (Chase Kasel); four great-grandchildren, Coltrane and Izabella Ward and Cameron and Riley Wohlsdorf; two sisters-in-law, Celia Nygaard and Brenda Nygaard; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Roger; her parents; her in-laws, Alan and Irene Wohlsdorf; granddaughter, Amber Jo; her brothers, Marvin Nygaard and Stanley Nygaard; her sister, Beverly (Nygaard) Babinec; brother-in-law, Ronald Wohlsdorf; sister-in-law, Kay Pemble; and nephews, Tim Wohlsdorf and Greg (Sue) Wohlsdorf.