Lynda Andersen

Lynda Louise Andersen, of Hoffman, passed away peacefully on January 23, 2022.   Six days after her 78th Birthday following a year-long battle with cancer.

Lynda leaves behind her husband, Wallace.  Daughters Cindy (Jeff) Tiemann of Royalton and Misty (Loren) Michelsen of West Fargo.  Grandchildren-Breanna (Robert)Vaillancourt, Cassandra Tiemann, Kenton Tiemann, Carson Michelsen, Dalyn Michelsen and great grandchildren-Stella, Adeline, and Harrison. Brother, Dale (Cill) Fagre, sister-in-law, Marlene Fagre, many nephews, nieces, cousins, and close friends she said felt like family.

Lynda was preceded in death by parents, Luella Kosek and Laurel Fagre, brothers, Tim Fagre and Donald Fagre, son, Scott Bordson, her Grandparents, and lifelong friends ~ Sandy Seekon and Charlene Wikholm, both of whom passed away in 2021.

Lynda was born on January 17, 1944, in Fergus Falls to Laurel and Luella (Asleson) Fagre.  Lynda attended elementary and high school in Elbow Lake.  After graduating High School Lynda married Dwaine Bordson of Elbow Lake.  The couple moved to the Twin Cities, where Lynda worked at Unisys Inc, a computer manufacturing company.  Lynda and Dwaine had two children, Scott and Cindy.  In 1969, Lynda returned to Elbow Lake with her children and began taking classes in Fergus falls for cosmetology while working at Mendelson’s egg company.  After obtaining her cosmetology license in 1972, Lynda started working at Joyce’s Hairstyling in Elbow Lake. While working at Joyce's, Lynda became friends with Marlene Albjerg.  One of Lynda’s fondest memories was when her brother Tim married Marlene.

In 1973, Lynda’s true love story began when she met Wally at the Cat’s Eye in Wendell.   The couple married on November 24, 1973.  They have been each other’s support over the past 48 years.  In 1975, Lynda and Wally celebrated the arrival of their third child, Misty.  That same year they completed building their new home on land they purchased from Wally's mother, Isabelle, and Wally’s siblings near Kriedler Corner.  This is where Wally taught Lynda how to drive a tractor, and he would often say she was “almost” as good as he was at plowing and pulling wagons.

In 1976, Lynda took an interest in family history and genealogy; her hobby eventually turned into complete books of information from every branch of her family tree.  Throughout the ’80s, Lynda, Wally, Misty, and Scott traveled throughout Minnesota and the Dakotas, researching ancestral history.  Many times, Lynda’s mother Luella and Aunt Mabel would also join in the fun.   Though their daughter Cindy was occasionally jealous of these travels, she was also grateful she was away attending college. The history travels continued until Scott, Luella, and Mable were no longer healthy enough to travel.  Lynda loved everything about her research, but was also hesitant to share family history online, she believed much of the information was too personal to share with just anyone.  However, she had no difficulty sharing the information with anyone who took an interest and personally showed up.

Wally and Lynda instilled a positive work ethic in their children while also showing them the importance of family time and fun.  Together the family enjoyed camping trips to Mount Rushmore and most of the state parks in the Dakotas and Minnesota.  Their longest adventure with the children took them to the state of Kansas to visit Wally's brother Robert & his wife, Sharon.  Lynda and Wally took several long trips across the country together as well.  One trip they talked about with fondness was in their 1975 Mustang through the mountains in California. When they were almost empty nesters, they took Misty to Florida to visit friends Rick and Mary Bogle.  Rick gave them a private tour of the USS Saratoga. After retirement, Lynda's travels stayed closer to home except for a trip to Disneyworld with Misty and her Family.

Lynda enjoyed crafting and woodworking.  Even before YouTube or Google, Lynda would call up one of her brothers, ask for advice, and then do whatever it was her own way.  She made it appear as if no task was outside her capabilities.  Case in point, when Lynda’s mother-in-law Isabelle could no longer live alone, Lynda designed a small home for her, assisting with the building and then completing most of the electrical work and plumbing herself!

Lynda did many things before they were a trend or cool.  In 1982, Lynda believed Grant County residents could benefit by increasing waste recycling.  She researched the topic, set up a business model, presented it to the county, and Andersen Recycling was born.  By 1984 the business had grown into more work than she and Wall could manage, so Lynda’s brother Tim started working with them.  In 1989, Lynda sold the business to Grant County; the county kept Lynda and Tim as employees to manage the business.  In 1992, the county turned the operations over to the Grant County Developmental Achievement Center (DAC), who moved the business to the main street in Hoffman, which allowed more of their clients to work there.  The DAC asked Tim and Lynda to continue managing the daily operations.  In 1995, Wally and Lynda retired from farming and moved to Hoffman. Lynda loved her job, coworkers, and clients, had it not been for back pain forcing her into retirement at the age of 63, she would undoubtedly have continued working here well past retirement age.

Lynda was never one to remain idle for long and despite having several back procedures and ongoing back pain, Lynda and her sister-in-law Cill began volunteering and selling crafts at the Galleria in Hoffman.  They enjoyed their crafting projects, working as store cashiers.  Lynda was in her element when she was able to manage the store one or two days a week.  In October 2020, Lynda was diagnosed with Lung Cancer and began radiation treatments.  With all of this occurring at the height of Covid, it was impractical for Lynda to continue volunteering at the Galleria. Lynda continued working on craft projects at home but no longer ventured out in public.   In August of 2021, due to severe shortness of breath, Lynda was admitted to Douglas County Hospital.  Additional testing revealed no other treatment options were available to her and her physician recommended hospice care at home.

Lynda’s family will be forever grateful to the Douglas County Hospital staff and Lynda’s health care team at Douglas County Hospice for their care and compassion throughout her Cancer process.  Special thanks to Nurse Jen, Nursing Assistant Paulette, Chaplain Andrea and Social worker Gina for their never-ending patience, support, compassion, and care.  Lynda also received support and strength from the many phone calls and visits from her extended family, especially from her brother Dale and sisters-in-law Cill and Marlene.  Lynda truly appreciated visiting with people in person and over the phone.  She especially enjoyed the ongoing visits of her close friend Lisa Olson, who kept Lynda up to date on town happenings and provided advice and assistance with her many crafting projects.

Although Lynda enjoyed keeping up with others by following their posts on social media, she was never fond of personal attention and rarely enjoyed having her picture taken.  Thus, it should not surprise anyone close to her that she requested no public memorial services be held in her honor.  While her family wished to allow friends to pay their respects and share how much she impacted their lives, they also felt obligated to honor Lynda’s last wishes.  As such, expressions of sympathy and thoughts of endearment may be mailed or personally delivered to Lynda’s family at PO Box 525, 402 Dakota Avenue, Hoffman, MN  56339.

At Lynda’s request, her Grandsons Carson and Kenton will be taking her on her final tractor ride to Swedish Covenant Cemetery in Barrett where her close family will lay her to rest after a private gathering.