Peggy Lee (Barber) Ellingson, 63, of Wood Lake, died Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at the Granite Falls Hospital, following a 3 ½ year battle with cancer, with her husband Vernon and very special friend Traci Storms by her side.
Funeral services were held on Monday, January 4, at Yellow Medicine Luthern Church, officiated by Pastor Steve Weston. Burial was at East Yellow Medicine Lutheran Cemetery in Hanley Falls.
Peggy was born June 3, 1946 in Wang Township, Renville County, to Vergil and Ella (Standfuss) Barber. She was baptized on July 7, 1946 at Methodist Church, Renville and was confirmed May 28, 1961 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Granite Falls, by Rev. Tr. H. Rehwaldt.
On December 11, 1965 she married Vernon Wayne Ellingson at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Granite Falls, by Rev. Rehwaldt. After marriage, they lived in Hanley Falls, then rural route Montevideo. They moved to Grandpa and Grandma Ellingson’s farm in rural Wood Lake in 1968. There she loved her family, her collection of antiques, gardening, cats and being a farm wife. In 1984 she started working at the Granite Falls Manor where she was a Rehabilitation Nursing Assistant. She retired in September of 2009.
She was preceded in death by her father, Vergil J. Barber; her mother-in-law, Mavis Ellingson; one niece, Leslie Ellingson; sisters in-law, Geryl Ellingson and Marge Ellingson. She is survived by her husband, Vernon Wayne of Wood Lake; her sons Wayne Lee of Prior Lake and Shawn Lee, and special friend Traci Storms of Summit, South Dakota; her mother, Ella A. Barber of Granite Falls; her sister, Eileen (James) Wegner of Granite Falls and her brother Rick (Holly Jo) Barber of Luverne; Grandson, Jared Storms of Summit, South Dakota; her father in law, Lyman F. Ellingson of Granite Falls and special family friend Adam Ohlgart of Prior Lake.
She started her schooling in Sacred Heart Schools. During the first grade they moved from their farm in rural Sacred Heart to Granite Falls. She attended Granite Falls High School and received her diploma. When she was younger she loved spending summer vacations with her aunts Edith (Barber) Kvendru and Beulah (Barber) Strand. She loved the time of the farm.
She taught Sunday School at both St. Paul’s Lutheran and Yellow Medicine Lutheran. She was a member of Yellow Medicine Lutheran Church, American Legion Auxiliary, Pioneer Power and Minnesota Machinery Museum, all of Hanley Falls. She looked forward to the numerous vacations and trips they took to visit special family friends on their ranch in Wyoming.
Arrangements were with Lynner Funeral Home of Clarkfield.
