Individual Details

Death

Services will be held Nov. 16 for Freda S. Gerdes 79, at 11 a.m. in the Wayne Zion Lutheran Church in rural Monticello, with burial at the church cemetery. The Rev. Harvey O. Gilbertson will officiate at the services.
Mrs. Gerdes, Monticello, died Nov. 14 at John McDonald Hospital, following a brief illness.
Freda S. Zimmerman was born Nov. 4, 1904, near Amber. She was the daughter of W.R. and Cathryn Doering Zimmerman. She received her early education in the rural schools near Amber, and later attended high school in Monticello. She went to Austin, Minn., to train as a beautician, after which she returned to Monticello and opened her own shop.
Freda S. Zimmerman and Alva Gerdes were married June 11, 1930, at Wayne Zion Lutheran Church in a double ceremony with Louis and Agusta Helgens. The couple made their home in Amber, where Mr. Gerdes worked as a carpenter and Mrs. Gerdes had her beauty shop. She worked as a beautician from 1925-70, when she retired. Her husband died Jan 2, 1972. She moved from Amber to Monticello in 1974.
Mrs. Gerdes was a member of Wayne Zion Lutheran Church, were she was baptized in 1904 and confirmed in the Lutheran faith on April 13, 1919. She was also a charter member of the Amberettes.
She is survived by two children, Dwight Gerdes of Lake St. Louis, Mo., and Mrs. Pat Hoffman of Monticello; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two sisters, Anna Hanken of Sioux Falls, SD., and Hattie Jansen of Monticello. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and two sisters.