Meredith Shirley (Geer) Kummerfeldt passed away of natural causes Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, at Valley View at the age of 95.
She was the second of twins, born Sept. 18, 1921, near New London, Minn., to Henry and Jennie (Price) Geer.
At the age of 13, she and her family moved from their Minnesota farm to Park Grove, Mont., where her father worked for the Army Corp of Engineers, building the Fort Peck Dam. She graduated from Nashua High School in 1939, then attended Deaconess School of Nursing in Great Falls to become a registered nurse.
During WWII, she served in the United States Naval Reserve from 1943-1946, promoting to Lieutenant and stationed at Farragut, Idaho, San Leandro, Calif. and Aiea Height, Hawaii. While stationed in Hawaii, she nursed the soldiers returning to the mainland from fighting in the Pacific Theater. After her honorable discharge from the Navy, she worked as an operating room nurse at the University of Minnesota and at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.
She then earned her bachelor's of nursing from Montana State University in 1953, followed by completing her master's program in Nursing Education at the University of Washington. She worked at the VA hospitals in Seattle, Wash., and Boise, Idaho, from 1957-1960.
In 1961, she moved back to the Nashua area and married Franklin Kummerfeldt. She was very active at Bethel Lutheran Church of Grain, where she was baptized on Nov. 23, 1969, along with her children Kurt and Karyn, and mother-in-law Ossie Kummerfeldt. She was a long-standing member of the ALCW Ladies Aid, as well as teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. She was also a member of the local DAR and American Legion Auxiliary. She volunteered for many years at the Nashua school, conducting immunization clinics, eye tests, height and weight record keeping and the annual preschool round-ups. Her hobbies and passions were reading, gardening, traveling and spending time with her grandchildren. After her divorce, she moved to Portland, Ore., in 1994 to be near her daughter and returned to Glasgow in 2007.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Jennie Geer; sisters-in-law, Mildred "Millie" Geer, and Theda Geer; and nephew, Jeff Geer
Survivors include her twin brother, Miles "Bud" Geer of Glasgow; one brother, John "Jack" Geer of Billings; one daughter, Karyn Taylor and her husband, Will, of Portland; one son, Kurt Kummerfeldt and his wife, Tammy, of N. Nashua; and five grandchildren, Caleb, Luke and Zackary Taylor and Kaden and Zevin Kummerfeldt.
Her funeral service was held on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 3 p.m., at the First Lutheran Church in Glasgow. Burial followed in the Glasgow Highland Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to the Valley County Pioneer Museum in honor of Meredith Kummerfeldt.
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