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- Bio: Arlyn Wadholm, 85, New Town, died Friday in a Fargo hospital.
- Arlyn Audrey was born on June 28, 1935, at Stanley. It was the day after a devastating tornado had hit Mountrail County and the hospital was full. She was the second daughter born to Mabel Elizabeth (Meyerdirk) and Loran “Lee” Stout. Arlyn was taken home to a farm south of New Town that her daddy, uncles, and Grandma Lucy Jane, homesteaded in 1915.
- At the age of five, her life was torn apart when her parents divorced and Mabel took Arlyn, her sister Dixie, and her little brother Teddy, to live in Minot. They later moved to Garrison, where Mabel remarried and gave birth to a little sister Alma. The years that Arlyn lived away from the farm, her daddy Lee would come and get his three children as often as he could.
- Arlyn had a real directive point in her life when Mabel decided to move to Oregon and take the kids with her. At eleven years old, Arlyn cried her heart out, not wanting to leave her daddy all alone without his children. The Lord told Arlyn she must stay in North Dakota, so she listened. Mabel would only agree to leave the kids with Lee if he would raise them in town. Lee, and his brother Ed, moved with the kids to a house in Sanish. Because of the move, the brothers had to sell their 30 horses, which broke Arlyn’s heart. Her Uncle Ed took on the mother role with quiet strength and kindness in the caring of the children.
- Arlyn attended Sanish High School and was of its last graduating class in 1953. Lee made sure that she was proud of her 6 ft ½ inch height. Slouching to match the height of the other girls was never an option. She later attended Minot State Teachers College. After receiving her teaching certificate, she taught at a rural school for one year.
- Arlyn married Theodore “Ted” Wadholm on August 31, 1957, at Bethel Lutheran Church, in New Town. The couple built a house in New Town. Arlyn worked at the Ben Franklin store until her daughter Lorna was born in 1965. Lorna was usually carted along to the farm with Arlyn and Lee while Ted worked as an auto mechanic in town. Another daughter Charlotte was born in 1969.
- The family moved to the farm in 1976. They began remodeling the original 1915 house, which was moved from Sanish in 1953; an addition was built so that Lee could have his own living area. Arlyn and Ted started purchasing the farm from Lee, who later passed away in 1978.
- Arlyn was very active in the Ladies Aid, Circle, teaching Sunday School, and Church Council of Bethel Lutheran Church. She was on the city council for a time. She took advantage of evening classes that were offered in New Town, including a welding class. Her favorite places in New Town seemed to be the library, the grain elevator, the lumberyard, the hardware store, and the fabric store.
- Arlyn loved semi-trucks, big earth moving equipment, and tractors. She had a soft spot for truck drivers. When she met them on the road, she’d motion for them to pull their horn. She named all her vehicles, tractors, grain trucks, combine…everything! (Dodie, Stew, Mini, Emma, Elly, etc!)
- She was also fascinated by history and loved trains. Being able to stand right where the Golden Spike had been driven in 1869, to connect the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Rail lines, in Promontory, UT, was a thrilling event for her.
- Arlyn learned to drive a tractor at an incredibly young age. Being covered in dirt was okay with her. She worked hard her whole life loving the farm, the outdoors and always thinking up projects for improvement. She hired various young people to help her with these projects and the farm work, mainly to teach them work ethics and skills. Passing on her knowledge, history, and skills, to her grandchildren was especially important to her. “We’re burnin’ daylight” is a phrase she often spoke when things needed to be done.
- Farming was her livelihood, so she was honored when she and Ted received the Ft. Berthold Soil Conservation Service Award in 1981. They were a great team. Arlyn would come up with something, an idea or design, and Ted would make it, usually with a welder. They both worked hard to build up the farm. His mechanical expertise was a necessity for all the equipment. Arlyn always called him “Mr. Goodwrench”. Ted passed away on January 28, 1996.
- They opened their home to many people. They invited two foreign exchange students at separate times. The first from Norway in 1982 and the second from Germany in 1983. They both remained Arlyn's daughters and have been back to visit several times. Arlyn was blessed to be able to go overseas to visit both in 1998.
- Arlyn had the most unique way of thinking. When she received a bovine heart valve replacement in 2003, she declared that she had “finally become a cowgirl”.
- Arlyn enjoyed reading immensely. Her very large collection of books, which began with Zane Grey and Nancy Drew, has only recently ceased to grow. Her other passions, besides family and farming, included gardening, landscaping, wild birds, poetry and politics. She remembered sitting on her daddy’s lap at the age of 4 listening to the news on the radio. She’s been listening and learning politics, and enjoying discussing it, ever since.
- Arlyn was very kind and generous to many in need. She often went out on a limb for those who needed a place to stay or who needed some work. Those who have had the misfortune of being a recipient of the “Wadholm beller” will most likely never forget it, and neither will we. Throughout her life, shed lived the lessons learned in her etiquette book and tried her best to be a lady.
- Arlyn was surrounded by her daughters and granddaughters at a hospital in Fargo when she peacefully went to Jesus, on October 9, 2020. Her generous spirit lives on in the donation of her tissues and corneas.
- She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ted; brother, Teddy Stout; sister, Dixie Hanley; granddaughter, Cassandra “Casie” Chagis-Bell; and stepson, Larry Wadholm.
- She is survived by her sister, Alma McGregor of St. Marys, GA; daughters, Lorna (Mike) Elton of New Town and Charlotte (Darin) Swensrud of Williston; stepson, Ted (Retta) Wadholm of San Jose CA; grandchildren, Kelly Elton, Jen (Torey) Forward, and Loran Elton, all of Grand Forks; Zane Swensrud of Phoenix, AZ and Elizabeth Swensrud of Williston; great- grandchildren, Dylan and Braden Elton and Kisa Dohmstriech, all of Minot; Jack, Jocelyn, Jayden, and Jamison Forward, all of Grand Forks; and numerous nieces and nephews.
- Langhans Funeral Home
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1935 - 2020 (85 år)
