Not many teachers these days can boast of teaching in a one-room school, but Ellen Anderson did.

During a teaching career that spanned nearly four full decades, Andersonís resume includes classroom duty at three one-room schools, including the Hay Lake School in Scandia.

When she retired in 1978 as a Grade 3 teacher at Forest View Elementary School in Forest Lake, she had spent 38 years in the area as a teacher.

Anderson, 91, died at her Forest Lake home on Thursday, Dec. 7, after a short illness.

Ellen J. H. Anderson was born June 4, 1915 on a farm near Cloquet and attended school in Esko where she was captain of a champion traveling girlís basketball team. Her brush with sports in high school launched a lifelong love of sports of all kinds, including golf and fishing.

She attended college in Duluth before moving to St. Cloud State College where she received a teaching degree.

Champion of 4-H

Ellen Anderson was long a stalwart of the 4-H program in the Forest Lake area and the catalyst for what is today four generations of Andersons who have been involved in the youth program.

Her son Byron of Hugo and his children and now grandchildren, are deeply involved in 4-H. As a parent, she worked as a 4-H leader and in retirement years, was a familiar figure at county and state fairs where her grandchildren and great-grandchildren had 4-H projects.

ìShe will be greatly missed by her family and friends and she has served as a great role model,î said her son.

Along with her 4-H involvement, Anderson was active at Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake and a member of the VFW Auxiliary. Her son said his mother was an excellent seamstress, gardener and cook.

In her latter years she continued to can and freeze vegetables and refined her kitchen skills to become an excellent cake decorator.

Her love of learning also spilled over to retirement years and classes in sewing, ceramics and painting, her son said. She also traveled extensively in her retirement years.

Funeral details

A funeral service for Ellen J. H. Anderson was Monday, Dec. 11 at Faith Lutheran Church. Interment was at Scandinavian Cemetery, Forest Lake.

She is survived by her two children, Karen (Lloyd) Street, and Byron (Helen) Anderson; nine grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; one brother, Raymond (Dorothy) Hongisto; and many nieces and nephews.

Anderson was preceded in death by her parents and three brothers.

Memorials are preferred to the family in care of Mattson Funeral Home, 343 North Shore Drive, Forest Lake, MN 55025.

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