Bernice Updyke,
former resident of Hovland, died Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at the Elder’s Home in New York Mills, Minnesota. She was born in rural Leaf Lake Township, Ottertail County Minnesota to Albert and Lydia Anderson on May 15, 1909.
She grew up on the Anderson farm in Leaf Lake Township, the eldest of nine children. She graduated from New York Mills High School in 1927. She married Oliver Updyke at the Congregational Church in Grand Marais, August 7, 1937, with reception at Jameson’s Wilderness Retreat Resort at McFarland Lake.
Bernice and Oliver lived in Fulda, Minnesota for a short time, and returned to Hovland in 1940. They purchased the Alphonse Elquist homestead in Moose Valley in 1945, operating it as a dairy farm until 1951. Subsequently, the Moose Valley farm remained a home base during the period Oliver worked construction in California, Arizona and Minnesota. Bernice and Oliver relocated to Arizona in 1979 and to New York Mills, Minnesota in 1983.
Although Bernice was quiet and reserved she made and kept many friends throughout her long life. She worked hard at many jobs ranging from clerical work to milking cows to cooking at St. Luke’s Hospital, Duluth. She particularly enjoyed gardening and tending her flowerbeds, an occupation she continued to age 95. She was fortunate to enjoy the support of her extended family and friends following the death of her husband Oliver in 1984. Bernice had been a resident of the Elders Home in New York Mills since 2006.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Albert and Lydia Anderson; sisters Jeanette Anderson, Helen Anderson and Mildred Raustadt; brothers, Richard and Arnold Anderson; husband Oliver and son David Updyke.
She is survived by sisters Edna Thompson and Martha Camp; brother Reino Anderson; son Bruce Updyke; grandchildren, Jason Updyke, Gail Cook, Rochelle Gump and Jennifer Ismail; nine great-grandchildren and 24 nieces and nephews.
Bernice had made prior arrangements through the Minnesota Funeral and Memorial Society for cremation and interment at Prairie Hill Cemetery, Fulda, Minnesota. A memorial service is scheduled Saturday, November 6, 1:00 p.m., at the St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York Mills, Minnesota.
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