Frances A. Stoskopf

Monday, January 23, 2017 5:48 pm

Frances A. Stoskopf, 90, of Decorah, died Thursday evening, Jan. 19, 2017, at her home in Decorah. Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, at Decorah Lutheran Church, with Rev. Charis Combs-Lay and Rev. David Sorenson. Casket bearers are Michael Johnson, Bruce Nessett, Quinn Schultz, Virgil Stoskopf, Vincent Thorson and Alexander Wentworth. Burial is in Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah in the spring. Visitation was from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23, at Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah, and Tuesday, beginning at 10 a.m., one hour before the service, at Decorah Lutheran Church. Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah is serving the family. Online condolences may be made at fjelstul.com.

Frances Arleen (Johnson) Stoskopf was born Sept. 2, 1926, at home on the family farm near Hauge Lutheran Church in rural Decorah, the daughter of Oliver and Helen Gladys (Jaastad) Johnson. She was baptized Oct. 31, 1926, and confirmed in 1940, at Hauge Lutheran Church. She attended Canoe No. 4 Country School and then graduated from Decorah High School with the class of 1946. Frances married Verl E. Stoskopf May 19, 1956, at Hauge Lutheran Church. To this union three children were born: Vicki, Sherry and Darrel. Frances worked for Northwestern Bell in Decorah, as a housewife, at Smith Memorial Hospital on Pershing Ave. (which dissolved in 1969 and then Winneshiek County Memorial Hospital opened) as a nurse’s aide, and answered the phone for Stoskopf Oil Company until her retirement. She was a member of Decorah Lutheran Church. Frances enjoyed playing with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren; her cats; and watching her bird feeders.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Verl, Sept, 5, 2001; her father, Oliver Johnson, in 1974; her mother, H. Gladys Johnson, in 2010; one brother, Orville Johnson, in 2006; one sister, Vivian Meher, in 2014; her brother-in-law, Bill Grayburn, in 2011; her father-in-law, Vernon Stoskopf, in 1960; and mother-in-law, Bessie Stoskopf, in 1999; and her nephew, Brent Stoskopf, in 1988.

Frances is survived by two daughters, Vicki (Elton) Thorson of Decorah and Sherry (Robert) Schultz of Chaseburg, Wis.; one son, Darrel Stoskopf of Decorah; one sister, Sharon Haugen of Fort Myers, Fla.; four grandchildren: Vincent Thorson, Jessica (Rick) Lippe, Quinn Schultz and Clare Schultz: two step-grandchildren, Travis (Mandy) Schultz and Ryan Schultz: six great-grandchildren: Alex, Rashell, Mitchel, Katinka, Isabella and Gracie; step great-grandchildren; two brothers-in-law, Paul (Bev) Stoskopf of Rochester, Minn. and Ronald (Marcia) Stoskopf of Decorah; two sisters-in-law, Jacquelyn Grayburn of Onalaska, Wis. and Ann Johnson of Cresco; and by several nieces and nephews.