Obituary: DeElla Aamot

DeElla Aamot

Willmar, Minn.

DeElla Aamot, 91, of Willmar, Minn., died Wednesday, April 10 at Compassionate Cottage in Willmar. Her funeral will be held at 11 am, on Friday, April 26 at Calvary Lutheran Church in Willmar, Minn., with visitation one hour prior to the service. Interment will be in Zion Lutheran Cemetery, rural Watson.

DeElla Cathryn Juel was born Oct. 7, 1932, in New Rockford, N.D., to John and Agnes (Anderson) Juel. She graduated from New Rockford High School in 1950 and St. Olaf College in 1954 with a degree in music education. She taught for one year in Cavalier, N.D., and then for two years in Benson. On Aug. 10, 1957, she married Paul Aamot. They moved to Willmar in 1963.

DeElla was the organist at Calvary Lutheran Church in Willmar for 25 years. She also taught piano lessons for many years and worked as a nurse's aide at Willmar Junior High School.

DeElla loved music and was a talented pianist. Besides playing the organ at Calvary, she accompanied many choirs and was involved in musical productions at the Barn Theatre and Willmar Community College.

She also enjoyed traveling, first visiting Europe as a college student in 1953. Later in life, she and Paul traveled to many cities with the Willmar Community College choir, spent several winters in Arizona and traveled to Norway and Denmark three times. She took her four children on a trip to Scandinavia in 2013.

DeElla was very active socially and enjoyed spending time with her friends in Willmar and staying in touch with her cousins in the United States and Denmark.

She and Paul raised four children: Brett, Jane, Sarah and Gregg. Besides traveling, they enjoyed choir concerts and church activities and attending their grandchildren's various activities. They were married for 53 years before Paul passed away in 2010.

She is survived by two daughters, Jane (and Larry) Barr of Rochester and Sarah Aamot of Brainerd; two sons, Brett (and Kathy) Aamot of Spicer and Gregg (and Jeanne) Aamot of Victoria; six grandchildren: Bria (and Chris) Skordahl of Chaska; Mariel (and Cole) Rudick of Mound; Josh (and Krista) Alexander of Owatonna; Matt (and Erin) Alexander of Rochester; Tom (and Jacey) Alexander of Rochester and Manny Aamot of Victoria; two step-grandchildren: Chelsey (and Chad) Eul of Eden Prairie and Maria (and Matthew Stram) Barr of Hopkins; as well as 14 great grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and her brother, John Juel.

Arrangements by Harvey Anderson Funeral Home of Willmar, Minn.