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Lynette Holter, 83, of Alvarado, passed away in her home, under the care of her family, on Thursday morning, March 19, 2020.
Before we attempt it, how do you sum up a life? To know Lynette was to love her: and nothing written about now that she's gone can do justice to the amazing life she lived.
Lynette Mardell was born on February 25, 1937 in Warren, MN to Edwin and Vivian (Hawkinson) Olson. From the time she was born, Lynette took after her father: she simply loved living and wanted to share that with everyone she met. The family lived in Oslo (next to the Kallocks) and in Alvarado, Lynette graduating from Alvarado High School in 1955. She was married soon after to Gordon Holter, who had just recovered from polio. The young couple made their home along the Red River in “Holterville,” where Lynette became a cornerstone in a wild country full of kids. She raised her own and kept them well-fed, not to mention the dozen others that might show up in a day. In later years, she worked at Jim's Fairway, Danny's Hartz, and Rustad Grocery (all in the same building), and was also a waitress (nicknamed “Skinner”) in Gordy Jenkin's cafe. Her last and longest employment was working in quality control for Beamco.
In those early years, though Lynette's home was the one that stretched its budget the furthest, she managed to cobble together large meals and entertain friends and relatives almost constantly. At one time, the household was going through 3lbs of coffee and 10lbs of sugar a week! The key to Lynette's success was not her strong body but rather her indomitable spirit: her fortitude outweighed her lack of physicality in spades. One of the great gifts she gave her children was her ability to entertain- and if you couldn't keep up, so much the worse for you! She was always singing, acting, playing music, or putting on a show: if it happened to take place while she was doing the laundry, it was a happy coincidence. Like her father before her, she was privately eccentric and publicly proper. Her “public” side was no cakewalk. She was the ad hoc nurse for Holterville and injuries that couldn't be walked-off she patched up with a strip of rag and carbolic salve. In addition to keeping the house and making sure her children didn't die from their antics, Lynette ran a beauty parlor in her home where local women could get their hair done while talking about almost anything.
Lynette had this amazing ability to “know” every person she talked to before she started a conversation. Her emotional intuition and her knowledge of the human condition was staggering at times. As profound as she could get, and as beautifully as she wrote and sang (in five octaves), she never stopped talking like the farm girl she was at-heart. She tried to learn a new word every day and could tell a yarn like nobody's business. In fact, she had a certain talent for stringing together creative expletives, but we won't go into that here.
Lynette will be missed for a thousand things that a list simply can't cover: for her skill on the accordion; for feeding the masses with hotdish or treating the neighbors to fresh-baked bread; for her Norwegian table menu complete with lutefisk, lefse, and rømmegrøt (who can forget her Scandinavian spin on chili?); for her love of fairness in all things; or her demanding of absolute silence when Lawrence Welk was on the air- to name just a few.
She will be greatly missed by the family she leaves behind: her children, Robbin Holter, Lori (Keith) Chisholm, Larry (Wendy) Holter, and David (Theresa) Holter; grandchildren, Josh, Bethany, Adam, Matthew, Taylor, Ashleigh, Samuel, Nathan, Lucas, Brandon, Christine, Connor, Nathan, Nadine, and Michael; numerous great-grandchildren; and her brothers, Delwyn (Shirley) Olson, and David “Deta” (Kay) Olson;
Waiting for her on the other side of this mortal life are her daughter, Jody Clark; her parents; and her siblings, Sharon Bergman, Richard Olson, and Errol Olson.
FAMILY SERVICE: Sunday evening, July 26, 2020, at 5:00 PM.
WALK-THROUGH VISITATION: Following the service, on July 26, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM, in DuBore Funeral Home Chapel, Warren, MN.
FAMILY RECEPTION: to Follow, at the family home, New Holterville, Alvarado, MN.
CELEBRATION OF LIFE: Hosted by the Holter Family; Wednesday, July 29, 2020, at 5:00 PM, at the family farm, in old Holterville, now "Tooterville", north of Oslo, MN. Food and Drink will be provided.
INTERMENT: Alongside her daughter, Jody, in Oak Lawn Cemetery, later this summer.
NOTE: Social-Distancing and masks will be required for the service at the funeral home on Sunday, July 26 and suggested for the Celebration of Life service on Wednesday, July 29.
To watch the video of Lynette's family service, please click the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/165181363494299/videos/772267573514378