Mabel (Gjesdal) Melvedt (1910 - 2013)

Born 25 Apr 1910 in Edmore, Ramsey, North Dakota, United States

Ancestors

Died 4 Aug 2013 at age 103 in Coldwater, Branch, Michigan, United States

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Biography

Her biography is best sourced by her obituary which was published on the Dutcher Funeral Home web site.

Obituary for Mabel Melvedt Mabel Melvedt, 103, of Coldwater, formerly of South Lyon and a five-year resident of Maple Lawn, passed away on August 4, 2013. A memorial celebration will be held on Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 12:30 PM at the Coldwater Township Hall, 319 Sprague Road, Coldwater. Arrangements are being cared for by Dutcher Funeral Home in Coldwater.

Mabel was born in Edmore, North Dakota, on April 25, 1910 to Jim and Ethel Gjesdal. At the age of 18, she began a teaching career that would span six decades. With only 1 year of college, Mabel was hired as the sole teacher in a single-room, 12-grade school in Amidon, North Dakota. After a year in Amidon, she returned to Edmore, where she taught for the next three years, attending college in the summers. During this period, Mabel taught her sister, Vivian, seven years her junior. “She was one of the toughest teachers I ever had,” Vivian said. “I learned a lot that year.”

Her next teaching job took her west to Ekakala, Montana. In 1932, she took a break from summer college classes to work at Yellowstone National Park. That summer she became good friends with her future husband, Edward Melvedt, who was managing one of the park’s lodges. They played bridge and went to dances that summer, activities they would continue to enjoy throughout their long marriage.

Edward and Mabel were married in Denver, Colorado, on December 24, 1934, at the height of the depression. Edward was teaching in Iowa and Mabel in Montana, Denver was a halfway point. In those days women teachers were not allowed to be married, so after spending Christmas together, Edward and Mabel returned to their respective jobs, telling only their parents about their marriage. They reunited the following summer in Yellowstone to begin their life together.

Their first child, Carolyn Kay, was born in June of 1940 in Spokane, Washington. Their second daughter, Janna Dee, was born seven years later in Detroit. Mabel spent most of her married life in Detroit where she taught second grade for 20 years at Carlton Elementary School. “I always planned my classes to engage the smartest child in the room,” Mabel said. Over her career as a teacher, students said Mrs. Melvedt’s class was “where you learned a lot.”

In the late 1970’s Mabel and Edward retired to Centennial Farms in South Lyon, Michigan, to be near their daughter Carolyn and her family. Over her long life, Mabel was a model of strength and independence for her daughters and a fierce and loving support for her grandchildren.

She is survived by her daughters Carolyn Duncan and her husband Jerry of Quincy, Janna Gjesdal and her husband Jonathan Bixby of Jackson Heights, New York, niece Laura Johnson of Redwood Falls, MN; grandson Richard Scott Duncan of Crown Point, Indiana and his children Carly and Natalie of Frankfort, Illinois; grandson Jamie Duncan and wife Laura and their children Emma, Grace and Isaac of Winnipeg, Canada; and granddaughter Cassandra Ritas and her husband Josh Rooke-Ley and their children Atticus Rooke-Ley and Mabel Ann Ritas of Jackson Heights, New York. She was preceded in death by her husband Edward on November 3, 1991 and her sister Vivian June Johnson.

Memorial contributions may be made to Maple Lawn Medical Care Facility or The American Diabetes Association.

Sources

• 1925 North Dakota Census (Ancestry.com), North Dakota, Ramsey, Edmore, Roll 5238, Sheet 7. Record for James, Ethel, Mabel, Vivian Gjesdal.
• 1930 U.S. Federal Census (ancestry.com), North Dakota, Ramsey, Fancher, ED 19, Sheet 2A. Record for James, Ethel, Mabel, and Vivian.
• Find-A-Grave, Memorial #127217220, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?&GRid=127217220
• Find-A-Grave, Memorial #63324600, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=63324600. Record for Vivian Gjesdal.
• Dutcher Funeral Home - http://dutcherfh.com