Martha E. Anderson

Martha Esther (Liimatta) Anderson, 93, from the Aurora-Palo area passed away peacefully at Edgewood Vista Memory Care in Virginia, MN on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Martha was born in Palo, Minnesota, the youngest of nine children of Johannes and Anna (Haltti) Liimatainen. She attended grade school in Palo and graduated from Aurora High School in 1939. After earning a teaching diploma from Duluth State Teachers College, she taught at various schools in Minnesota from 1943 through her retirement in 1975. Throughout her working life she took classes as her schedule allowed to earn her Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Her first teaching jobs were at School 40 and Bloomingdale in St. Louis County. After moving to Crow Wing County to teach in Riverton, Minnesota, she was matched with Russell Anderson for a mixed-doubles bowling tournament. Their compatibility went beyond the bowling alley and they married in July 1947. Martha and Russ lived in Deerwood, Minnesota with their two children for 19 years, until Russ’s work took him to the Mesabi Iron Range. After his retirement ten years later, they moved to Palo where they built a lovely house, sauna and huge garden. Martha, an avid photographer, left a rich legacy of photographs chronicling the family, local events, fish caught, local and international trips, bounty from the garden and berry-picking trips, among other things. Her keen mind and research skills helped her with other avocations: successfully growing a variety of vegetables and berries in the short northern-Minnesota growing season, raising orchids and baking bread and sweets. Family and friends were often the beneficiaries of this work. She also enjoyed fishing, early American history, knitting, classical music, travel, and time spent with family and friends. She embraced new technologies, learning to use a computer and the internet in the 1980s. She was a member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Palo both as a child and after returning to Palo. Martha was preceded in death by her parents; husband; son, Melvin Anderson; siblings and their spouses (Oscar Liimatta, John and Jean Liimatta, Arthur and Aune Liimatta, Neelo Liimatta, Aileen and Urho Maenpaa, Emma and Jack Focht, Gertrude and Harmon Olsen, and Ellen and Ed Sandstedt). Martha is survived by daughter, Shirley Brantingham, numerous nieces, nephews, close cousins and good friends. The family would like to express their deepest thanks to Martha’s excellent caregivers and volunteers from Edgewood Vista and Essentia Hospice, who kept her comfortable and happy during her long illness, and to members of St. Mark’s and other friends for their frequent visits that enriched her life. Funeral services for Martha will be 10:30am Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Palo. The Rev. Arthur Dale will officiate. Visitation will be 4-6pm Tuesday at Ziemer-Moeglein-Shatava Funeral Home in Aurora and will continue for one hour prior to the service at the church on Wednesday. Burial will be in the Rauha Cemetery in Palo. Any memorials preferred to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (4096 Highway 100, Aurora, MN 55705) or Minnesota Public Radio (480 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN, allocated to classical music).