Majel P. Palmquist

SIOUX CITY -- Majel P. Palmquist, 85, of Akron, Iowa, formerly of Sioux City, died Monday, March 8, 2010, at Akron Convalescent Care Center.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 13, 2010 at Nelson-Berger Northside Chapel in Sioux City, with the Rev. Roger Madden officiating. Burial will be in Logan Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m. and a prayer service at 7 p.m., at the funeral home. Condolences may be sent online to meyerbroschapels.com.

Majel was born Jan. 16, 1925, the daughter of Philip and Grace (Armstrong) Frederick. She was born on a farm near Marathon, Iowa. Her dad says she was born during a storm. In March 1925, the family moved to a farm southeast of Rembrandt, Iowa. She grew up there and graduated from Rembrandt Consolidated School.

In 1942, Majel tried to get into St. Joseph's School in Nursing in Sioux City, but she was two weeks too young. She then attended Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa, for one year, taking courses in German, chemistry and zoology. The following fall, she enrolled at St. Joseph's School of Nursing. After graduating in 1946, she then went back to Storm Lake and became a private nurse until the gentleman she worked for passed away. She then received a letter from the nursing college asking her to come and work for them. She worked for Dr. Brown (he was the first neur-surgeon in the area) as his scrub nurse. She stayed at St. Joseph's until 1956, when her daughter was born.

While working at St. Joseph's, she met a young gentleman by the name of Frank Palmquist, who was working as an orderly. They dated for two years and were married on May 15, 1949, at First United Methodist Church in Rembrandt. They lived in his family home in Sioux City for a while, then moved to their own home, but stayed in Sioux City. They had one daughter, Linnea Clausen of Craig, Iowa.

When Frank passed away in 1972, she again went back to work at St. Joseph's in the surgery department. She stayed in that position, moving to Mercy when the hospitals merged, until she retired in 1990.

She enjoyed playing bridge, bowling, golfing, woodcarving, oil painting, ballroom dancing, traveling and walking her various dogs through the years. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Sioux City.

She is survived by her daughter, Linnea and her husband, Gailen Clausen of Craig; her grandson, Nicholas Burnett of Onawa, Iowa; her granddaughter, Sarah Burnett; her great-grandson, Joseph Burnett of Craig; a sister-in-law; and nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; a sister, Marjorie Schuller; and a brother-in-law, Stan Palmquist.

Memorials may be directed to the National Parkinson Foundation and the American heart Association.