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Delmar Anderson 01/17/2025

Delmar Anderson 01/17/2025

Delmar Anderson, age 83 of Beldenville, WI, died on Friday, January 17, 2025 at his home.

Baby Boy Anderson was how my dad navigated this life in a legal capacity for 62 years until his retirement. Del was born during a time when unwed mothers were sent to Shakopee Women’s Prison, like his beloved Aunt Frances.  Ten years earlier, when his cousin Gene was born, Frances was made to be a ward of the state and Gene was raised by his grandparents, Hilda and Oscar Anderson.  When Josephine, Del’s mother, found herself pregnant and unwed in 1940 it was Hilda and Oscar who brought Delmar Urban Anderson home that following August in 1941.  Josephine fled to avoid incarceration to California.  Hilda raised Del up with a firm hand and he loved her fiercely.  Del would go to the woods in South St. Paul at the age of five to tend their wood stove.  Still tending his wood stove up until last month, Dad made sure that the house was kept warm for his love Nancy.   The only picture we have of Del and Josie shows him holding an ice cream treat as a young child. Dad loved ice cream, strawberry was his favorite as was maple nut which he especially enjoyed getting at the tractor shows he attended.  He was famous for making two trips to the ice cream truck during a tractor show visit.  Del never searched for his father or wanted to know a lick about him as he figured any man that would leave his mom to fend for herself was not worth knowing.

A mechanical genius, Del could figure out how to get anything running.  He motorized his bicycle with a Whizzer bicycle engine to get around the hills.  As a teenager, his Aunt Frances had married and lived in Bethany, MN so he would walk from South St. Paul to Bethany to see her, a little over 100 miles, laying down and sleeping on the warm road when he got tired.  He got his first taste and lifelong love of farm life working on the threshing bees and for farmers in the Bethany area helping with crops.

Del played hockey and wrestled as a young man and had a bit of a wild side.  He was pushed to go into the Army where he worked transport when stationed in Germany.  After returning he became a diesel mechanic working for LCL Transit and later Yellow Freight where he retired.  We even hear tell of him having a signed Hell’s Angel card! His union benefits were key in providing for his family and that he did.  Del’s work ethic and integrity were unmatched.  He valued honesty and had no time for liars.

Del loved any two-cylinder John Deere and when him and his first wife Norma purchased their farm on land contract, he farmed it with his John Deere tractors.  Del and Norma moved out to the farm in Beldenville with their son Doug and daughter Lisa.  Dale was born a year after the move.  He became good friends with neighbor Edgar Simonson and his Johnny Poppers could be heard coming up the hill from there.

Sunday drives were a part of growing up.  Del could drive anything with wheels and knew all the backroads.  If it was snowing out, when all we had were two-wheel drive vehicles, you wanted him behind the wheel.  Even when his sight was failing him, he could thread the needle pulling the wood up to the stove.

When the marriage to Norma dissolved, Del and Nancy came together to form a family with her three children Amy, Travis and Troy who were also raised on the farm in Beldenville.  All six of the children, except for Amy who was an angel, raised up plenty of shenanigans over their teenage years which provided for plenty of stories of their latest escapade.

He loved going to Antique Power Shows, traveling through the Midwest with Nancy.  In his later teen years he traded a running car for a 1949 Mercury that he restored and modified.  His relatives remembered that it turned heads rolling into Bethany. His passion for classic cars was fed with annual trips to Back to the 50s with his son where he enjoyed pork chops on a stick while reminiscing.

Del also loved animals and has had many pets over the years that loved him right back.   Amy was famous for bringing them home “to babysit”. Herbie, a kitten, showed up this past October and worked his way into the house to be his steadfast companion these past few months.  Early in 2024 when Del was diagnosed with cancer, he learned that his buddy, an aging Hereford bull we called Bully had cancer as well.  He tried everything he could to help Bully heal, sending him down to Iowa State University while he himself was going through treatments.  When Bully came home, it became a family effort to care for him.  Dad would go out every day to give him his cancer pills, driving his Gator and ensuring he had the sweet feed in stock.  Those two had a bond that transcends and Dad felt he was a part of him.

Those beautiful blue eyes that could tell a story without a word and readily turn into a mischievous glint making you wonder what plan he was hatching next.  His smile could light up a room as well as curve up in corners to reflect his playful and ‘smart as a whip’ quips and self-deprecating humor.

He made friends wherever he went.  Recently he said, “You can’t get too serious in life.” Del would be the first to admit he wasn’t perfect as he was also so incredibly hard on himself but he did the best he could and his best was perfect for us.

A Celebration of Delmar’s Life will be held on May 16, 2025 from 4-8 pm at the Glen Park Pavilion in River Falls, WI.  Arrangements are with Bakken-Young Funeral & Cremation Services.

2 Comments

  • Joni kolb Posted January 18, 2025 8:19 pm

    We have been so blessed to have Del as a part of our family. As I read the obituary I learned things about my brother-in-law that I never new and other things that I did know that made me smile. Del was so in love with my sister Nancy and I loved him for that. The twinkle in his eyes and his chuckle is burned into my memory of him forever.♥️

  • Cheryl Schultz Posted January 23, 2025 3:00 pm

    R.I.P poppa Del. Thank you for always making me welcome, buying us Tombstone pizzas and Pepsi. You truly are an angle.

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