Fred was born in 1874 near Onawa, Iowa. Around 1910 he
moved with his father, step mother, and younger sister to Pedro, Wyoming near Newcastle. He left home and lived in Colorado for a while.
Fred and Tekla Stenberg's story
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Fred was born in 1874 near Onawa, Iowa. Around 1910 he
moved with his father, step mother, and younger sister to Pedro, Wyoming near Newcastle. He left home and lived in Colorado for a while.
After Fred's father, Aaron, died, Fred moved back to Wyoming from Colorado and claimed a homestead across the road to the north of his father's homestead at Pedro near Newcastle, Wyoming. Fred married Tekla Nilsson 1919. Fred was 43 and Tekla was 36 years old. The photo was taken about 1941.
Several people have contributed information about the family incuding; Anna Stenberg Powell - daughter, Mina Arnold Young - niece, Polly Stenberg - sister-in-law, Greta Nilsson Royal - almost adopted daughter, and Joyce Royal - Greta's daughter-in-law. As often happens, there are some differences in the stories.
Anna: "My mother (Tekla) was born in Sweden & my dad's parents came from Sweden. My mother's uncle had come to Denver, Colorado to live. When mother (Tekla) was going to come over to America, she booked passage on the Titanic, but then felt impressed that she should change plans and leave earlier, so sailed to America on a ship that left before the Titanic. I believe it was providential that she didn't come on the Titanic.Mother worked as a cook in Colorado and somewhere along the way she met my dad (Fred Stenberg). For one thing they went to the same Swedish church. She took nurses training in Skottsborg, but not sure if it was before she came to America or one of her trips back home. Her training was in Denmark."
Polly: "Tekla met Fred Stenberg while on her Holiday in America, more than casual but nothing decided."
Mina: "Tekla had first met Fred when she visited a relative who lived near Denver. After she returned home to Sweden, Fred offered to pay her fare back to the U.S. This may have been a marriage proposal."
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Polly : Tekla "first met Karl Andre as he came in sparkling excellent personality, colporteuring (going from house to house selling religious books) while on vacation at Skodsborg Sanitarium. Tekla was taking nurses training at Skodsborg Sanitarium in Denmark. Another girl took issue with Karl for walking out with Tekla -- by talking around about it. Tekla could not bear to be talked about - so for this reason she accepted Fred Stenberg's steamship foremoney, and married Fred."Joyce Royal: "This Skodsborg Sanitarium was a well-known hospital for the treatment of ill people in natural ways such as using water therapy, vegetarian diet etc. Tekla went to school there and also the 3rd wife of Tekla's Uncle Alfred Fonten in Denver, Annie (Lilja) Fonten was a graduate nurse from Skodsborg. This Uncle Alfred Fonten had immigrated from Sweden in 1880 with his wife Sofia and settled in Denver. He became a Seventh-day Adventist and was instrumental in introducing the SDA message to David and Tekla Nilsson. He was the brother of their mother. Greta lived with them a couple of different times and also was married in her Aunt Annie's garden. "
Polly : "Karl Andre was not forgotten. Many years later after Fred died, Karl and Tekla married. Tekla spent her later years in Oregon."
Fred grew up in the United States. His primary language was English, although he learned some Swedish from his parents. Tekla grew up in Sweden, so English was her second language.
Greta: "Tekla spoke Stockholm Suenska like high German there are dialects in Sweden. Eric, Signe's husband was from the South (Skone) and quite a different accent."Anna: "My father, John Fredrick "Fred" Stenberg, came with his dad from Iowa. They traveled in a freight car and brought their furniture and their cattle with them. His dad, Aaron, built the house. He proved up on a homestead. Fred took out a homestead joining his dad's property. But that was later after Elizabeth and I, came along. In the summer Tekla, Elizabeth and I, stayed on the homestead. Fred and the older girls came up on the weekends.
The main part of the house at the homestead was one room with a loft and the kitchen was a lean to. The north wall was the bank and the floor was dirt. One day Elizabeth went out in the kitchen and told mother there was something dangerous in the kitchen (she was 2 yrs old at the time). Upon investigating, Mother found that there were 2 snakes in the kitchen. The snake that Elizabeth saw was a baby with only a button of a rattle and it was crawling on the ground. When Mother went into the kitchen she saw a 2nd snake (an adult) that had crawled up on the cupboard from the hill that was the north wall of the kitchen. He probably heard a noise and coiled up there on the cupboard ready to strike. I think it is amazing that my mother could get close enough to the cupboard to throw the iron on top of him without getting bit. I'm sure God protected her.
There was an air strip not too far from where we lived in Pedro, Wyoming. The oil field came after we left there. I well remember when the road was black topped. The people working on the road lived in a trailer up by the railroad tracks. We used to visit them and they us.
Later when we visited Newcastle they had drilled an artesian well in the town and as a result the town had gotten larger than when we were there."
Fred's stepmother Ulriku lived with the family for many years. Fred and Tekla had 2 daughters; Elizabeth and Anna. In her early years, Elizabeth went by her middle name, Betty.
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Joyce Royal: "In June 1920, Tekla's brother, David Nilsson, brought 3 of his 4 daughters to live with their aunt Tekla. David stayed with the family through August, 1920 to help Fred with some building. He then went to California to work in the orange orchards. 2 year old Helen was left with friends in Canada. Her father planned to go back to get Helen in the spring, but he died a year later in August 1921 from stomach cancer. He must be buried in an unmarked grave for there is no death record for him. His trunk was sent back to Tekla."
Helen was not reunited with her 3 sisters until they were grown. There are differing versions of why Helen was left behind. Greta says that Helen, was left behind because their father was afraid that he would not be allowed to cross the Canadian border with a 2 year old. Mina says that the oldest daughter, Edith, had planned to care for baby sister Helen on the train, but she got a ring worm on her hand and was afraid the baby would get it.
Although the family was unable to stay together, this is a list of the original David Nilsson family.
The 3 Nilsson girls remained with Tekla and Fred Stenberg. Tekla thought that her brother died because he consumed some vinegar. That is probably why she would never use vinegar. The Nilsson girls and the two Stenberg girls grew up together as part of one family, and were more like sisters than cousins. The Nilsson girls were not legally adopted -- they called Fred and Tekla Aunt and Uncle until after Fred died. Then they called Tekla Mother. Elizabeth and Anna always called the Nilsson girls sisters. Greta says that she and her sisters probably would have been adopted except that their mother was still living. I think that Tekla may have wanted to adopt, and Fred did not.
Even though Mina only lived with the Stenberg family for less than a year, she was close to the family for the rest of her childhood, and kept in contact with the family for the rest of her life. She considered the Nilsson girls part of the family, and was especially close to Greta. Since Mina was an only child, perhaps her relationship with her cousins and almost cousins was especially important to her.
Here is a list of the Fred and Tekla Stenberg family as if the Nilsson girls had been adopted.
Greta Nelson, Eleanor Anderson, Signe Nelson, Anna Stenberg, Helen Nelson, Edith Nelson
Eleanor may have been a cousin. She could have been a relative of Aaron or a descendant of Maria.
Mina: "We girls, the Nelson's and me, went to school at a little country school at the old experiment station about 3 miles toward town (about 5 miles northwest of Newcastle). Another student was Florette Holst who lived in an old ranch house 2 or 3 miles down the road. Ruth Williams rode about 5 miles from Newcastle on a pony to teach school."Greta: " Sometimes Mina's mother would come to the school in the afternoon and start walking home with the girls. She and Mina would slow down, and she would tell us Nilsson girls to go on ahead. Then she would catch a ride saying "my girlie is so tired, could you give us a ride?" The 2 of them would ride home,and we would have to walk even though we were tired too."
Mina: "Uncle Fred had raised a lot of watermelons that year, and we'd walk to school with one of us carrying the lunch and others taking turns carrying a small watermelon in a pillowcase. When the weather got too bad, my mother drove us to school in a buggy or sled. If the weather was really bad, we just didn't go to school. We lived with the Stenberg family for several months. Then in the spring of 1923 we moved to our own place near Newcastle.
Uncle Fred and Aunt Tekla had a school teacher come and live with them to teach the girls for a year or 2 or 3. Then for a year or 2 the girls rode the bus to Newcastle to go to school. Sometimes I would ride the bus home with them on Friday, and back on Monday.
Later, I think it was after the older girls had left, I got Signe and myself in trouble and almost made terrible trouble for Uncle Fred. I was spending a few days at the ranch in the summer time. One evening Signe and I were supposed to take one of the work horses across the highway to the pasture. We decided we might as well ride as walk, although we knew that we were not supposed to ride the work horses. But how could it hurt to just sit on the horse when he had to walk to the pasture anyway? The question was, how to get on. The barn door sill wasn't quite high enough. There were a couple of posts near the barn door, with slats nailed across from one to the other. But when we led the horse there he began kicking at something. It was too dark to see what. But we got on and rode to the pasture.
The next morning Uncle Fred came in with a very sober face. That horse had almost bled to death from cuts on his leg. A scythe had been parked begind those posts, and he had gotten his foot caught in it. Uncle Fred had to have a team to do his farm work and for his weekly trip to town. There was no way he could have gotten the money to buy another horse. I wasn't saved at the time, but I sure thanked the Lord that He hadn't let that horse die."
This is a photo of the Stenberg house at Pedro.
Mina: "Uncle Fred and Aunt Tekla were living on Grandfather's old homestead, but they had also taken up a homestead of their own. There was timber on the new homestead. They had to live on the new homestead for 5 months each year until it was proved out. So part of the time they lived out there in a small homestead house with a loft. Our sons David and Dale got to see the homestead when they took Daddy and me on the trip to Wyoming in 1993(?).One time somebody tried to jump Uncle Fred's claim -- they tried to prove that they weren't living there. They found no tin cans or ashes, and they thought that proved it. The Stenburgs canned food in jars which they reused, and they put the ashes down prarie dog holes. Uncle Fred got to keep his homestead."
Greta: "Tekla developed phlebitis or what they called milk leg. She was in bed a long time. A nurse friend of hers, Hanna Knappe, came and took care of us. She was little. A very nice person.I remember one time Mina said Uncle Fred is so cross. He was cross with us too, but he worked hard. He had high standards.
Emily (Case Bonney) lived near us in Wyoming for a time. A very nice person. Later she lived with her daughter Blanch south of Cour De Jane St. Marie Idaho or something like that. Chalmers and I visited them. I think it was 1961 that Don and I went to mother's wedding to Karl Andre. The world's fair was in Seattle. Emily lived there. We went together to the fair.
I think I had seen Will or Bill (Case) when we were young. Anyway when I came home in 1941 for Elizabeth's wedding he lived nearby.
I wanted to get mother (Tekla) a car. She had been hitch hiking 8 miles into town. Will took Betty and me to Rapid City in his model A. I bought a Terraplane. It was hard to start. The mechanics in New Castle could not find out why. I called it Terrible Terry, but she (Tekla) always said 'It is a good car'."
The rest of this page is dedicated to the 3 "almost adopted" Nilsson girls and their descendants as if they had been adopted by Fred and Tekla. The descendants of the 2 Stenberg daughters are listed on the main Stenberg page. Greta told me that the family name was Nilsson, and some time after settling in North America, the spelling changed to a more common English name of Nelson.
A school break in Feb. made it possible for me to go to the girls in Colorado to celebrate my eighty-sixth birthday, the evening of the 13th, as we had to leave on Sunday. Eleanor, who is also a Valentine (born February 14), came with her husband, Bill. He and Merlyn played their guitars, songs from the long ago. Singspiration at Union Manor has been mostly by college students, some fine young people.Both of Greta's parents were born in Sweden as well as her aunt Tekla (foster mother) and Fred's (foster father) parents.Alice, Bev. , and I have had a wonderful trip per British Air-Boeing 777 to Sweden. I met ten relatives that I had not seen, and they made us very welcome. Sweden is very pretty with its many lakes and beautiful forests. I had been writing to my cousin Eva in Swedish with the help of my Swedish-English dictionary. Neither she nor her daughter with whom I stayed spoke English. Siv, Eva, and Anders with their families live in Norrkoping.
I met my cousin, Asta, who lives in Uppsala. I had lost contact with her for a long time. That was a happy reunion. Alice, Bev. , and I visited her and Sven Ove, who lives in Uppsala. He is the son of my cousin, Sven, who is deceased. His wife, Helena, was also very nice. Both speak English.
Alice and Bev. visited Oslo, Bergen and Helsinki. They saw some beautiful places, but I was happy to get acquainted with relatives. I saw several old cathedrals. I have a student, Andrew Kim, living with me. He is a Korean. A very nice and thoughtful person. Tiffany, who lived with me before, is happily married and lives in Washington.Thanks to Joyce Royal for sending me the following:Wishing you health and God's blessing in 2000. Sincerely, Greta Royal
Greta Nelson Royal obituary - courtesy Joyce RoyalGRETA ELIZABETH ROYAL (NELSON) - Life History
2/14/1913 to 10/19/2009It was in the wild woods of Alberta, Canada, somewhere near a place called Half Way Lakes that Greta was born. Her father, David Augustinius Nilsson, immigrated to the United States in August 1904 and moved to Denver where his Uncle Alfred Fonten was living. Uncle Alfred had become a Seventh-day Adventist and David also became one after studying with his uncle. David then homesteaded near Montrose, Colorado and sent for his fiancée, Sigrid Elizabeth Karolina Bergstrom, in June 1908, to come and be his wife. David was living in a tent at the time, so this must have been a real shock to his new wife. After moving to Denver and then on to Spokane, they finally settled in Alberta, Canada. Greta's father was a carpenter and also did some farming and hunting during this time. Life was hard there and often they lived with friends to make a go of things. Greta remembers walking to school in the deep snow with her sister Edith when going to the first grade. She also remembered her mother ironing the sheets on the bed to keep the girls warm.
This is where Greta and her sisters' story became a tragedy. Due to the harsh living conditions, Greta's mother had a nervous breakdown and in September 1919, had to be hospitalized in the Provincial Mental Hospital in Ponoka, Alberta, Canada. The girls were split up and left with friends and neighbors. In the spring of 1920, David left two-year old Helen with the Ole and Sissel Haugen family and took the rest of the girls by train to his sister in Wyoming. It was his intention to go back to Canada in a year and get little Helen and bring her back to his sister's house. David's sister Tekla had married Fred Stenberg a few months before and he was homesteading at Pedro, near Newcastle, Wyoming. David stayed there and worked with Fred Stenberg throughout the summer and then in the fall, headed for Riverside, California, to pick oranges. A year later, in 1921, David died from cancer and so the girls continued to live with their aunt. Aunt Tekla loved the girls as her own and raised them with her own two daughters, Elizabeth and Anna Stenberg. Times were very hard then and there was no time or money to go to Canada to get Helen. The Haugens loved Helen as their own daughter and wanted to keep her so the girls were not to meet again until 1941 when Elizabeth was to be married. Greta's mother Sigrid died in March 1938, at the age of 52.
Greta grew up in a very loving home but it was a very hard life on the homestead. They spoke both Swedish and English at home and it was here that Greta learned many Swedish songs that her Aunt Tekla would play on the guitar. One favorite Swedish song was “Children of the Heavenly Father” which Greta would later sing in Swedish to her own children. It was a busy home with all of the children, and even then, her aunt would take in other people to live with them. This must have made an impression on Greta, because she too in later life took in many students in her home in order that they might have a chance to obtain a Christian education. Her aunt and uncle were godly Seventh-day Adventist people and desired for the girls to have a Christian education. Greta had attended a small local school with the neighbor children but then later they had church school in the home with live-in Seventh-day Adventist teachers. When Greta was in the 10th grade, she and Edith went to Broadview Academy, a Swedish Seventh-day Adventist academy near Chicago. To pay their way, the girls worked as servants in wealthy homes. After finishing the academy in 1933, Greta went to Denver to live with her Great-uncle Alfred Fonten and wife Annie to canvass Christian books door to door. After canvassing for a year, Greta went back to Illinois to work in a home for another year in order to raise enough money for college. She then went to Emmanuel Missionary College (now called Andrews University) in Michigan and took a pre-nursing course. She worked in the kitchen to help pay her way. After school was out, she went back to Illinois to work in a home again to earn more money before going to Los Angeles to enroll in White Memorial Hospital as a nursing student. The hospital was a part of Loma Linda University where Greta graduated in June 1939 with a nursing degree. She then went to work in a hospital in Brawley, California, close to Mexico, for a year and then worked a year in Napa. When Elizabeth was to be married in May 1941, she quit her job and went home to Wyoming. It was then that she finally was able to meet her youngest sister Helen. What a happy and exciting time it was for the girls.
After the wedding, Greta, Signe, and Helen took a trip near Upton, Wyoming, to meet their home-school teacher, Celia Reed, and visited the Reed's church at Arch Creek. While visiting the church, Greta met Chalmers Royal for the first time. Greta, Signe, and Helen sang special music for the church service. Chalmers took an immediate liking to Greta and decided that he might want to marry a lovely redheaded nurse. They corresponded for a couple of years and then decided to marry on June 14, 1943, in Denver at Aunt Annie's home. They were married on Sabbath evening in Aunt Annie's garden, and settled in Rapid City, South Dakota, where Chalmers trucked for a living. During their time there, a story was told about Greta's determination. Their house was heated with a coal and wood stove and Greta just hated the mess and dust of the coal. The coal man could not come for a couple of days so when they were out of coal, she just took some of her money that she made from nursing and got rid of the coal stove and bought a gas stove. No more mess! When Greta had her first baby, Harry, she decided that he was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. She always mentioned that off and on all her life as to what a beautiful baby Harry was. They had four of their five children in Rapid City and decided that they must move to a place where their children could obtain a Christian education. It was decided in 1952 that they would move to Lincoln, Nebraska, where the children could go to church school all the way through college. Don was born the following year in Lincoln. Chalmers worked for the broom factory that was a part of Union College.
Greta worked as an RN in several places including California, Denver, CO, Rapid City, SD, and Lincoln, NE. She took care of a variety of patients with various ailments including those with polio in iron lungs and burn victims. Often they were children. She spoke frequently of the difficulty she had seeing families devastated by accident and illness. She would make little gifts, especially for the children to make their lives more tolerable. The little gifts had to be sterilized to prevent bringing germs to already compromised bodies. She frequently grieved with those families as well as with the families of her patients who lost their battles with injury or disease. She later moved to private duty nursing which she did for many years. For a time she also nursed George Holmes and his wife who were the people Holmes Lake were named after. She then worked different shifts at the Lincoln Regional Center as one of the RN supervisors. She did nursing volunteer work too. Much of her last nursing duties was taking care of her husband Chalmers in his last years.
Greta's main concern was that her children would go to church school and she sacrificed much to make that happen. Money was always tight but they always had enough to eat and shared what they had with others. Often she would invite guests over for Sabbath dinner. She especially liked to find the lonely people or the young people at the college and invite them over so that they could be a part of her home.
Greta loved the Lord Jesus very much and did what she could to be involved in the church. She loved teaching the primary children in Sabbath School and went out of her way to make little crafts that taught an object lesson. She always had the neighbor children come over and she would read them stories. She had a little club where she sponsored an orphan and then she went around the neighborhood inviting the other children to be a part of this club and donate money towards the orphan child's upkeep. Of course, her grandchildren were her greatest love. They have many fond memories of sitting on grandma's lap and having her read to them. It was always a great day when all of the grandkids got together at her house to play.
Greta loved music and would sing in the choir, especially, to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. She loved sitting around the piano and having everyone sing the beloved hymns. She taught herself to play the guitar and often sang and played with friends and family. She provided music lessons for her children, but I don't think she was there enough to enforce the practice sessions because of her work! In her later years, she organized a Singspiration at Union Manor and lined up song leaders and pianists so that on Sabbath the elderly could enjoy singing hymns to Jesus.
Another love that Greta had was for beautiful baby dolls. She always wanted one as a child so her Aunt Tekla made her a rag doll for her 8th birthday, but it wasn't the same as a regular doll. There just wasn't enough money for luxuries like dolls. Later when Greta was married, she would buy dolls for her girls to the point that Chalmers would make a fuss about it. Her love for dolls was so great that she would sneak more dolls in for her girls. To the last day that she lived in her home, she kept a few baby dolls around in her living room.
Beautiful flowers brought great joy to Greta and she always spent time outside with her flowers. She adored all of the bouquets from her children for Mothers' Day, her birthday and other occasions. Even up to her death, she noticed the beautiful flowers next to her bed and would say one word, “beautiful.” She would take pictures of her bouquets and her roses and other flowers outside so that she would remember them.
Greta loved people very much and would make it a point to get to know all of her neighbors. She would help anyone in need and would drive people to their appointments and nurse them in their illnesses. She had learned as a nurse how to give water fomentation treatments and would insist on giving the afflicted person a treatment for coughs or other flu symptoms. In her old age, she would often take care of younger people who were not as healthy as she was. When her children would call her on the phone, her thoughts were always on the people she knew and their special needs.
She and Chalmers had rental units and she would help her tenants with anything, even if they didn't pay their rent. Often she was taken advantage of but she didn't seem to care or notice. All she saw was that there was a person in need and she could provide the help that they needed. She was a hard worker, holding a full time job as a nurse, cleaning and painting on their rental property, keeping her home going, and helping people in need. She was not a complainer, but did what she could to make life better for others.
Greta was a spunky woman and no task was too much for her. When the car needed to be painted and no one was doing anything about it, she took a paintbrush and painted the car red. Unfortunately, the car was covered with paint streaks and bugs got stuck in the paint! On another occasion, she spray painted a different car with cans of blue paint. She thought she had matched it up pretty well, but the shade of blue was a bit darker than what was on the car so it had this cloud effect. From then on, it was called “the blue cloud.” At the age of 89, she had her first motorcycle ride with Dan Burghart, her future grandson-in-law. At the age of 90, she flew alone to Hawaii for her 90th birthday to be with her daughter Alice who was doing a nursing assignment there. When her daughter-in-law Joyce had surgery on her foot, 93-year-old Greta wanted to push Joyce around in her wheel chair to help her out. Of course, Greta was using a walker at the time, but she was always thinking of others.
Greta worried about being a burden to others, but of course, it was a pleasure to serve her. She had always been the one to take care of others, and now it was our turn to take care of her. Her family dearly loved her and will sorely miss her. If only there were more people like her who lived a life of service, how much better our world would be. But of course, Jesus was her example, and His life was exemplified in her life. We look forward to seeing her when:
“The Lord Jesus descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. “Mother, we are planning to meet you on that resurrection day.”
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” “Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 21:4,20.
Royal, Greta Elizabeth (Nelson), 96, died peacefully surrounded by her family on October 19, 2009, in Northglenn, Colorado. Greta was born on February 14, 1913, to Swedish immigrants, David Augustinius Nelson and wife Sigrid Karolina Nelson (Bergstrom), near Half Way Lakes, Alberta, Canada. She was the third child of five daughters born to this family of which the eldest died in infancy, and after being orphaned at the age of seven, she and two other sisters were raised by their Aunt Tekla and Uncle Fred Stenberg near Newcastle, Wyoming.Note: This page was updated 10/23/2009 to include Greta's brief life history and obit. I am not doing a good job of updating all the family history pages, but wanted to update this one in honor of Greta who has been such a good friend of our family and such a help to me with documenting my mother's childhood.Greta was raised in the faith of her parents and of the Stenbergs, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Greta married Chalmers Royal on June 12, 1943, in Denver, Colorado, and they lived in Rapid City, South Dakota, until 1952 when they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. To this union were born three sons and two daughters. Her husband Chalmers preceded her in death on August 26, 1989.
Greta was a graduate nurse from Loma Linda University in 1939 at the White Memorial Hospital division. She spent many years doing private duty nursing. One of her many patients was the late George Holmes that Holmes Lake Park was named after. Later Greta spent many years working at the Lincoln Regional Center until she retired in 1978. Greta loved to serve others and spent many years teaching the primary Sabbath School class, singing in the choir, working at the Good Neighbor Community Center, arranging singing bands for Union Manor, and much other untold charitable work for anyone who needed help.
Greta loved to travel, whether it was visiting her family or seeing the world. Her greatest joy was to share what she had with others. Greta Royal leaves to mourn her passing, son Harry Royal and wife Linda of Arlington, Texas, son Raymond Royal and wife Joyce of Sedgwick, Kansas, daughter Alice Rickert and husband Elvin of Northglenn, Colorado, daughter Beverly Royal of Brighton, Colorado, son Don Royal of Denver, Colorado; 9 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren; two cousins whom she considered her sisters, Elizabeth (Stenberg) Parker and Anna (Stenberg) Powell, both of Oregon. Preceding her in death were her sisters, Alice Nelson, Edith (Knoefler) Reed, Signe Peterson, and Helen Leschert, and a grandson. The family will be receiving friends and visitors at a viewing on Sunday, October 26, 2009, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Roper & Sons Funeral Home. Pastor Terry Bock at the College View Seventh-day Adventist Church will conduct the funeral service on Monday, October 27, 2009, at 11 a.m. The burial will be in the College View Cemetery under the direction of Roper & Sons Funeral Home.
