Barbara Monson

Barbara Monson, age 93, died peacefully at the Good Samaritan Society, Pine River, on September 7, 2020, after living a long, full life.

Barbara grew up in Wanamingo, Minnesota, where she married John Monson in 1948. After she graduated from the Fairview Hospital Nursing program, they moved to Granite Falls where they raised their family.  Barb worked for a number of years at the Granite Falls Hospital, and in the 1960s Barb and John managed the outpatient TB clinic in Granite once the Sanitorium closed. Barb finished her working career as the administrator of the Clarkfield Care Center.

Barb and her husband were active in numerous activities in Granite from scouts to the exploration in the early 1960s of starting a college or vocational school in Granite. John worked on the idea of establishing a college and Barb on the vocational school idea. Barb also was the second woman to serve on the Granite Falls School Board.

In 1980 John and Barbara moved north to a lake near Backus, MN where they lived in a new house built for them by the Granite Falls carpenter, Myron Amundsen.  They split their year between McAllen, Texas in the winter and their lake home in the summer.  Life was good for Barb in the last third of her life.  She and her husband volunteered at the local coop, had a robust vegetable garden, numerous flower gardens that the deer loved, and they were daily monitors of the lake clarity for the DNR. Like all grandparents who lived on a lake, they spent lots of time in July with their grandchildren.

Barb is survived by her sisters-in-law, Barbara Kerkvliet of Owatonna and DaVona Swanson of Litchfield; daughter, Ann Ledeboer  (Scott) of Hackensack; grandson, Nathan Ledeboer of Milwaukee; granddaughter, Rachel Johnson (Ryan); great granddaughter, Ellie Wolthuizen; great grandson, Andrew Wolthhuizen of Pequot Lakes; son, Craig Monson (Colleen) of Bonita Springs, Florida; grandson, Andrew Monson (Paula) and great granddaughter, Ali of Bloomington; granddaughter, Megan, and great granddaughter, Anastazia Willis of Chaska; son, Todd Monson (Joanne) of Minneapolis; grandsons, Tollef Monson of Kodiak, Alaska, and Ilkka Monson of Minneapolis.

The family is especially grateful for all of the help and kindness they received from the people in Pine River and Backus as Barb and her late husband John aged in place. After John’s death in 2013, Barbara moved into a senior apartment in Pine River, and in late 2017 she moved finally to the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Pine River where again her care was very good.

A private family memorial service was held.