Leona Norma Fichtner

Leona N. Fichtner, age 97, Browns Valley, MN, formerly of Bradley, died in the care center in Browns Valley early Wednesday morning, November 5, 2014. Visitation will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2014 from 10AM - Noon with a public prayer service beginning at noon with Minister Marion Grimes officiating. A lunch will follow in the funeral home reception area. Following the dinner, burial will be held in the Our Saviors West Lutheran Cemetery. The casketbearers will be Michael Hewlett and Lyn & Brenden Hodny. She was born Leona Norma Lien on April 13, 1917 near Lily, SD, the daughter of Bertin and Clara (Peterson) Lien. Leona attended school near Lily. She often told that school was difficult for her as she really only spoke Norwegian, and as all of you know, that brogue continued on for the next 97 years! As a young girl she assisted on the family farm, being the eldest of 10 children, helping in the field and doing chores, in the house too. During World War II she moved to Ben Harbor, MI where she worked in a factory. It is there she met her future husband, Erwin, and the couple was later married on October 11, 1946. They lived in Michigan until moving to Bradley in 1971. He died in Sioux Falls at the Veteran hospital in January of 1998. She was a member of Peace Lutheran Church at Clark. In her free time she enjoyed collecting dolls, sewing, in fact, making patterns from old bed sheets, and then sewing most of her clothing and her daughters in younger days. Leona will long be remembered for playing the piano in the group Happy Norwegians, a group that played at various nursing homes in northeast South Dakota for many years, playing the piano by ear. Any of you that ever received a note or card from Leona will also remember her beautiful handwriting. Preceding her in death were her parents, husband, siblings, Milton & Kermit Lien, Della (Leo) Montano and 2 other brothers and 2 other sisters. Survivors include her daughter, Judy Kay Hewlett of Ortonville, MN, grandchildren, Michael Hewlett, Lynsie Hewlett and Sherre (Lyn) Hodny, great-grandchildren, Kyra and Brenden and siblings, Doreen Christensen and Ernest (Leona) Lien and a sister-in-law, Carol Lien. Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com