Date of Birth:
Saturday, December 16, 1939
Date of Death:
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Age:
70 years old

Jeanette A. Carlson

Jeanette Ann Carlson died at her home on Wednesday, Jan. 20. Jeanette was born 16 December, 1939, on a warm record-breaking day at Perham, Minn., to James and Dorothy (Rohr) Tobkin. In 1944 the family moved to a farm 10 miles north of Detroit Lakes, Minn.. She attended the one-room rural school, District 57 at Rochert, Minn., and usually had a 2-mile walk home. She graduated with honors at Detroit Lakes High School and at St. Catherine’s Nursing Program in St. Paul. She married Harold Carlson on 7 October, 1961, at Detroit Lakes. While honeymooning in Washington, D.C., she identified a former neighbor on the “10 Most Wanted List” on the FBI tour. The psychopath had killed four women nationally. They moved to Rochester in 1966, and Jeanette became active in St. Pius X Catholic Church and School, and the Olmsted County Genealogical Society. The sweaters she knitted for her children now are being worn by the grandchildren. To help pay tuitions, she did day care for many years. In Bicentennial 1976 she started doing genealogy. Her husband, Harold, worked 31 years for the IRS. In travels for fun and research and meeting relatives she visited all 48 contiguous states. In 1996 she and Harold toured in Europe and enjoyed meeting new cousins. The 2005 family cruise in the Bahamas was also wonderful.

She is survived by Harold and three sons, Bernard (Jackie, Melissa and Grant); Edward (Kimberly, Kyndra and Daulton); and Vincent (Stephanie), and six daughters, Monica (Phil, Eli and Daniel) Araoz; Victoria; Linda (Jim and Kiera) McGuire; Deanna (Jim, Jillian, Toby, Evelyn and Luke) Jacobson; and Rebecca (Steve, 12th grandchild expected in June) Soh, all in Minnesota, and Barb (Jim) Gorghuber in Las Cruces, N.M.

A longtime diabetic, Jeanette survived strokes, but could not beat peritoneal cancer. Vicki says Mom is in Heaven interviewing ancestors. Rather, she is enjoying the “Beatific Vision.”

A funeral service is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 25, at 11 a.m. at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Rochester. Visitation will be Sunday, Jan. 24, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Macken Funeral Home in Rochester, and one hour prior to the funeral Monday at the church. Memorials are preferred to Pro-Life Across America or the Minnesota Multiple Sclerosis Society. www.mackenfuneralhome.com