Edna Ann Franz Bragstad, age 103, of Garretson, passed away on Thursday, August 3, 2023, at her home. Funeral services will begin at 11:00 AM Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at Highland Lutheran Church, rural Sherman. Interment will be in the Union Cemetery, Flandreau. Visitation will be from 5-7:00 PM Tuesday, at the Minnehaha Funeral Home, Garretson. Memorials may be directed to Highland Lutheran Church or the Garretson Food Pantry.
Edna was born on June 22, 1920, to Louie and Marie (Tollgaard) Hammer at the family farm near Flandreau, South Dakota. She attended Parnell Country School through the eighth grade and graduated from Flandreau High School in 1939. Throughout her career, Edna worked at the Flandreau Hospital as a nurses aid, at Central Supply and Surgery and spent nineteen and a half years as a nurses aid and activity assistant at the Palisade Manor. Edna enjoyed going to dances with friends. It was at a dance that she met Alvin Franz. In 1941 (WWII), she moved to California to work on planes at the Douglas Aircraft Defense Plant as a “butter.”
On January 19, 1944, she and Alvin Franz were married at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Flandreau where they lived and raised their five children until Alvin’s death in 1956. Edna and the kids continued to live in Flandreau where she worked at the hospital. She later met Joe Bragstad and they were married on July 3, 1966. They moved to a farm east of Sherman and farmed there until 1975. After retiring from the farm, they enjoyed fishing (especially in Canada with Edna’s sister Gladys and her husband Fritz). Edna was active at the Highland Lutheran Church, where she was secretary and deacon for the WELCA. She held positions as officer for the Garretson Senior Citizens, Echo Club, and was also on the council for R.S.V.P and H.E.L.P. Edna enjoyed traveling, playing cards, and spending time with family and friends.
Grateful for having shared her life are her children: Dennis (Kathie) Franz, Garretson, Charles (Sue) Franz, Pipestone, MN, Joan (Lee) York, Lake Wilson, MN, and Bette Olson, St. Cloud, MN; 11 grandchildren; and 23 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Louie and Marie Hammer; husbands, Alvin Franz and Joe Bragstad; sister, Gladys Kreber; brother, Donald Hammer; daughter, Jean Franz; son-in-law, Dave Olson; grandson, Terry York; and great granddaughter, Megan Muyres.
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