Margaret L. Gulsvig

Margaret Gulsvig, age 89 of Westby, died Tuesday, January 19, 2010. Margaret Lucille Gulsvig, age 89, long-time resident of both Westby and Decorah, Iowa, died Tuesday, January 19, 2010, at the Bethany Riverside Nursing Home in La Crosse, Wisconsin, surrounded by her family.She was born October 18, 1920, in Tama, Iowa, to Karl and Amanda Elvina ("Ella" Moe) Hanson, and raised on and near the campus of Luther College, where her father was the college bursar. Thus began her lifelong passion for, and support of, Luther College. She graduated with a major in English in 1942 and soon thereafter married Elmo Gulsvig, who was an assistant coach and chemistry teacher at Luther. They moved to Westby, where they both dedicated themselves to education and church while raising their family. Upon Elmos death in 1997, Margaret surprised everyone by uprooting herself and returning to Decorah, where she quickly established a large circle of friends with the same passion for writing about the area she had shown while in Westby. Then, due to declining health, she moved back to The Old Times Assisted Living facility in Westby in 2005 and finally to Bethany Riverside in 2008.Margaret was an astute observer of everyday life in small towns and relished the opportunity to comment upon its many joys as well as its many absurdities. Once she began her weekly "Maggies Musings" column in The Westby Times in the early 1960s, she became known to many simply as Maggie. Area residents looked forward to Thursdays when they could read her unique depiction of the weeks events, often disagreeing with her point of view (particularly if they found themselves to be the subjects) but nonetheless flattered at being mentioned in the Times, and specifically by Maggie. Her children include themselves in this category.Maggies love of all things Norwegian, coupled with a belief that Westby needed a new cause around which to rally, led to her being part of the core group that launched the annual Syttende Mai celebrations in Westby in the late 1960s. Of course this gave her even more to write about. (And of course she would have cringed at the grammatical liberties taken in the preceding sentence.)A teacher-by-proxy while her children were young (supporting Elmo as he moved from being teacher and coach to school superintendent), and a substitute teacher as the children got older, Margaret eventually took a full-time position teaching English at Viroqua High School. There her passion for writing became an inspiration to many students, and she herself became a coach of an academic nature. She led Viroquas High Quiz Bowl Team to victory in the mid-70s, no doubt fuelled by her famous rice krispie bars.Throughout her life in Westby, Margaret was an active member of the Westby-Coon Prairie Lutheran Church. She sang in the choir, attended Circle, served on the church council, was the Sunday School superintendent, and supported the Ladies Aid in imaginative ways, going so far as to write a comic opera performed by the Ladies for an important church anniversary.The opera was but one example of her love of parody, wordplay, and well-executed practical jokes a passion now shared by her many former students and her own children. Her retirement dinner in 1985 became an opportunity for some of them to return the favour, when, for example, waitresses emerged from the kitchen carrying trays of her infamous "Christmas Tree Jello desserts" that had been secretly loathed for years. She loved it all.Margaret again threw herself into community life upon her return to Decorah, writing columns for The Decorah Journal, becoming a guide at the Vesterheim Museum, and of course being an active member of the local Lutheran church. Having received a Distinguished Service Award from Luther in 1997, she readily became acquainted with many of the current staff, and thus often felt she had never really left.As her ability to write faded away and her memory grew cloudier, Margaret continued to surprise all around her with her quick wit and memorable one-liners. She was greatly supported during this time by the staff at The Old Times in Westby and at Bethany Riverside, to whom her children are deeply grateful. Although she will be dearly missed, her commitment to education and the church, and of course her impish sense of humour, live on in her family, friends, and students.She was preceded in death by her husband, daughter Mary Ruth, sisters Esther and Alice, and brothers Karl and Austin. She is survived by her three remaining children, Ann (John) Bergstad of Edina, Minnesota; Paul (Jane) Gulsvig of Onalaska; and Catherine Gulsvig Wood of St. Paul, Minnesota. She is also survived by six grandchildren, Amy (Gulsvig) Martinkovic, Jennifer Gulsvig, Kurt Gulsvig, John Paul Bergstad, Kristina Bergstad, and Adrian Wood-Smith; and two great-grandchildren, twins Riley and Hailey Martinkovic.The funeral service will be held on Friday at 1:00 p.m. at the Westby Coon Prairie Lutheran Church. Pastor Dennis Hallemeier will officiate with burial in the Coon Prairie Cemetery. Friends may call on Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Vosseteig Funeral Home, 708 S. Hwy 14 in Westby. Memorials are requested to the [Westby High School] Norse Fund and to Luther College. The Vosseteig Funeral Home of Westby is serving the family.