Arlene “Renie” (nee Stenberg) Lellelid, age 95, died just before midnight on June 25, 2024, at Lyngblomsten Care Facility after a brief illness. She was born in Colman and graduated from Egan High School.
After a year of nursing training at Luther College, Decorah, IA, she married Rev. Leo Lellelid. They accepted a call in 1951 to serve as Lutheran missionaries in Madagascar where they served as evangelists and Bible school directors. They returned to the US in the 1980s for Leo’s health concerns. They served for a time at Lutheran parish in Ava, MO. After Leo’s death she moved to live for 25 years with her daughter Joann and son-in-law John Toso—first in Austin, MN and later in Falcon Heights, MN. She served as English teacher to nursing students at Haydom Hospital in Tanzania during this time. Upon death of her daughter Joann in 2015 she moved to independent living at the Lyngblomsten Care Facility, St. Paul.
Her daughter Ruth Ann was at her side in her last hours. At one moment she exclaimed, “Ruth, who are all those people in the room?” She replied, “Mom, its’ just you and me.”
Behold a host arrayed in white escorting her home to her Savior, her husband Leo, her mother and father Alma and Ove Stenberg, her brothers Deviere, Bob and Virgil, her sister Elizabeth, daughter Joanne and son-in-law Jonathan Simonson.
She is survived by her brother: David Stenberg (Audrey); sons: Steven (Tafisoa), and Paul (Dawna); daughters: Ruth (Daniel), Suzanne (Joel), and Annette; her son-in-law: John Toso and a myriad of grandchildren and great grands.
She donated her body to the University of Minnesota Anatomy Program and ashes will then be later returned to the family whereupon there will be an interment at the Colman Cemetery.