Amy Shilts

Wednesday, March 18, 2015 1:55 pm

Amy Shilts, 93, of Calmar, formerly of Boyd, Wis., died Sunday, March 15, 2015, at the Ossian Senior Hospice in Ossian. Services were at 11 a.m., Thursday, March 19, at Calmar Lutheran Church in Calmar, with Pastor Phillip Olson officiating. Organist was Martha Ludeking. Hymns were “Rock of Ages,” “How Great Thou Art,” “Amazing Grace” and “Beautiful Savior.” Interment is at Edson Union Cemetery in Boyd, Wis., at a later date. Arrangements were handled by Schluter – Balik Funeral Home in Decorah.

Amy Aleda (Lodahl) Shilts was born Sept. 24, 1921, the daughter of Arthur and Elvira (Anderson) Lodahl in Cornell, Wis. Amy has lived a long life filled with a big variety of love, fun and adventures. She attended Pike Lake Grade School and graduated from Cornell High School in 1939. She went to Normal Teaching School, Wisconsin State University in River Falls; St. Mary’s School of Nursing and later earned her bachelor degree from Wisconsin State University in Eau Claire. She moved west with a college friend and they taught school for a year in Everett, Wash. and made trips to see many sites in northern California. She returned to Wisconsin. Amy married Elmer “Pete” Shilts Aug. 18, 1945. They lived in Boyd, Wis., where they ran a family plumbing, heating and hardware business for many years with Pete’s parents. After her children were born she started teaching at Boyd Public School and when she retired in the 1980s, she had taught for 32 years. She loved to bake, cook, sew, embroider, play cards and garden. She was an active member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Boyd and very involved with its Ladies Aid and Missionary League. She also was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary. She moved to Calmar in 2001 to live with her son, Wade. She continued her active participation at Calmar Lutheran Church as well as in Senior Citizens. Amy also enjoyed traveling. Especially memorable trips include flying to London to join Wade for Christmas, taking her granddaughters on their first plane ride for their first trip to Disney World, and her plane trip at the age of 86 to attend her granddaughter’s wedding in Pittsburgh. She also took Alaska and Caribbean cruises, visited Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ozarks, Nashville, Washington D.C., Canada, Switzerland, Niagara Falls, Yellowstone Park and a second trip to London.

Amy is survived by one daughter, Anita (John) Cutts, Mt. Prospect, Ill.; one son, Wade Shilts, Calmar; two grandchildren, Jonita (Ryan) Gidel, Pittsburgh, Pa. and Jolene Cutts, San Francisco, Calif.; one great-grandchild, Sophia Gidel; one sister-in-law, Elmira Simon, Stanley, Wis.; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Amy was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur and Elvira (Anderson) Lodahl; her husband, Elmer Shilts, in 1977; one son, Arthur Shilts, in 1975; two sisters, Dorothy Lodahl in infancy and Genevieve Janssen in 2012; two brothers-in-law, Clayton Simon and Jim Janssen; her father- and mother-in-law, Arthur and Pearl Shilts.