Brooklyn Center - Katherine Strong, 101, died Wednesday, May 12, 1999.
A memorial service was held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 22 at Harrison Community Presbyterian Church near Atwater. Interment was in Litchfield.
Katherine Lois Koerner was born on June 24, 1897 in St. Paul. Her family moved to Litchfield in 1906 where Katherine lived until 1915 when she graduated from high school. Following graduation, she attended Normal School in Grand Rapids, earning a Common School Certificate. Her first school was in nearby Blackberry, and she also taught in Walport, Oregon before receiving her elementary teaching degree from St. Cloud State University in 1923. She then taught in Litchfield and Minneapolis.
In 1925 Katherine married Sidney Strong of Atwater. After leaving her teaching career in 1929 to raise their three sons, she still found time to be active in the League of Women Voters, the Kandiyohi county library board and her favorite organization, the Order of the Eastern Star.
In 1942 Katherine resumed her career, teaching in a one-room, eight-grade country school south of Atwater. She also taught in Grove City and Atwater until 1960 when she and Sidney moved to Reno, NV. After living in Reno for three years, they moved to Ocala, FL where they lived for nine years, operating the Early American Museum at Silver Springs, FL.
In 1972 the couple returned to Atwater where they were active in civic and Harrison Church activities. In 1972 and 1976 they went on two transcontinental tours in their 1915 Pierce Arrow, and in 1984, they visited relatives in Sweden and Germany. On their 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries, Katherine and Sidney repeated their honeymoon trip to Banff and Lake Louise, Canada.
In 1993, Sidney's failing health caused them to move to Brooklyn Center where he died in 1994. Katherine continued to live independently in her own apartment at Maranatha Place until suffering a heart attack on May 4.
Katherine is survived by two sons, David (Joan) Strong of Thief River Falls and Darby (Helen) Strong of Brooklyn Park; one daughter-in-law, Judith Strong of Bloomington; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Katherine was preceded in death by her husband, Sidney; one son, Douglas; and two grandchildren; Pamela and Steven. A00003B1999MY26