VELMA ALBERTA STAHLBERG HEDLUND

La Conner High School alumna Velma Alberta Stahlberg Hedlund died on Sunday, January 1, at the age of 91.

She had been well cared for by her East Wenatchee family for several years and as a resident of the Blossom Creek Memory Care Facility in Wenatchee for the past 5 months.

Born September 6, 1925 in Strathcona, Minnesota to Albert and Jennie Shay Stahlberg, Velma spent her early years in North Dakota. She moved with her parents to LaConner in 1937, where she completed her schooling and graduated from La Conner High School.

She married Stanley Hedlund of Mount Vernon in July 1944. She and Stanley operated a small dairy farm in Stanwood, from about 1948 until 1968. After leaving Stanwood, they resided in Everett and then Silver Lake for about 35 years.

She is survived by three sons and four daughters-in-law, Robert and Sherry Hedlund of East Wenatchee; Lloyd and Vicki Hedlund of Augusta, Georgia; Jim and Norma Jean Hedlund of Coulee City; and Margaret Hedlund of Arlington; 12 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Isabelle Tingley of Sedro-Woolley.

She was preceded in death by her husband Stanley, son Craig of Arlington, and sisters Irene Stahlberg and Leona Oas.

Velma was an active member of Breath of Life Church, East Wenatchee shortly after moving to East Wenatchee from Silver Lake in 2005.

Memorials may be made to the church, 65 23rd Street NE, East Wenatchee, WA 98802. A Celebration of Life was held in Wenatchee on Saturday, January 21. A second service will be celebrated in La Conner at the La Conner Civic Garden Club at 11 a.m. on February 11.