Margaret Nissen

Margaret Frieda Nissen…

was born to Fred and Grace (Folkerts) Uilk on November 6, 1916 in Edgerton, Minnesota. She was raised in Pipestone County, Minnesota and attended school in Pipestone. After her graduation from Pipestone High School in 1934, she attended one year of normal school or teachers college. In 1935, she started teaching in a one-room country school near Cazenovia, Minnesota and later at school near Woodstock, Holland and Trosky, Minnesota. During this time, she boarded with a local family that included a young man named Raymond Nissen. After five years of dating, the two were united in marriage on June 6, 1940 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Pipestone. Following their marriage, they resided in Pipestone County. In 1941, they moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where she took a teaching job at a country school outside of Sioux Falls for several years. She began taking college courses during her teaching career and earned a teaching degree from a college in Sioux Falls. She then began teaching at Longfellow School in Sioux Falls where she retired in 1972. In 1979, Margaret and Raymond began spending their winters in Mesa, Arizona and permanently moved there in 1988. On March 3, 1999, Raymond preceded her in death. After his death, she continued to live in Arizona until October, 2014 when she moved to Ridgeview Estates in Pipestone. On December 5, 2014, she became a resident of Good Samaritan Communities of Pipestone. She died there on Thursday, November 19, 2015 at the age of 99 years and 13 days.

Margaret was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church while living in Pipestone. She faithfully read her daily devotions until her eyesight failed her. She enjoyed playing cards and bingo, winning in Bingo the day before she died.

She is lovingly remembered by her cousins, Jeanette and Mert Dresser of Bloomington, Minnesota, Mary and Wilbur Laffrenzen of Rochester, Minnesota and Jim and Bonnie Folkerts of Jasper, Minnesota; two godchildren, Laura Webb of Grand Rapids, Minnesota and Beth Sensenbaugh of Thornton, Colorado; and numerous other cousins. She is preceded in death by her husband, Raymond and her parents, Fredrick and Grace Uilk.