Grandma and Grandpa Wettestad

Adolph Conrad Wettestad was born April 17th 1886, to Norwegian Immigrants, Sievert and Ingeborg (Syversdatter) Wettestad, in Long Lake Township, St. James, Watonwan Co., MN. He was the youngest of seven children. Sarah Menora Jane Cecelia Barnes was born May 15, 1891, in rural Ellsworth, Nobles Co., MN. Known as Sarah as a child, and in her adult life as Celia, she was named by her mother; Sarah after her grandmother on her mother's side, Menora after her grandmother on her father's side, Jenny (Jane) after her mothers twin sister, and Cecelia after her mother. Her parents Charles and Emma (Pierce) Barnes raised their two children on their farm until 1898 when he moved them to the town of Harris, IA, where they opened a hardware store. It was in Harris, IA, where Adolph and Celia met and married.

Wettestad-Barnes
On Wednesday, October 26, 1910, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Barnes, occurred the wedding of their only daughter, Cecelia, to Mr. Adolph Wettestad, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Towner, pastor of the Methodist Church. As Mrs. Jensen, sister of the groom, played the wedding march the couple took their places in the parlor, in the presence of immediate relatives, and while Mr. V. A. Barnes and wife, brother and sister-in-law of the bride, acted as best man and bridesmaid, the solemn words were spoken that made them man and wife. Following the ceremony, and after congratulations were said, the wedding party partook of a most sumptuous wedding dinner.
The bride needs no introduction to the people of Harris. She has grown to womanhood in our little city and has always been one of our most esteemed and popular young ladies. The groom is and has been the manager of Gregg & Zeeman elevator at this place for the past year and a half, which business he is carrying on successfully. Mr. Wettestad is a bright, clean and industrious young man.
They immediately went to housekeeping in the home prepared for occupancy by the groom. Out of town relatives who attended the wedding were:...The Herald extends congratulations.

The Wettestads lived at Harris, IA (1910), Royal, IA (mgr. Farmers Coop), Harrisburg, SD (1924), Sioux Falls, SD (1925), Colton, SD (1925,26-35), Primgar, IA (10/1/36, 6 months), Faulkton, SD (1 yr.), Brookings, SD (1937-)

January 31, 1913, Celia gave birth to a daughter, Evelyn who sadly lived one day. Adolph and Celia then went on to adopt a little 2 1/2 yr. old girl, my mother Darlene, in October of 1933. (The adoption was final 10/15/1935.) The Wettestad family lived in Colton, SD where Adolph was manager of the Farmers Coop Elev. Mr. Wettestad was transfered to elevators at Faulkton, SD, 1 year and Primghar, IA, 6 months before moving to Brookings, SD, in 1935. Darlene started school in Brookings. Adolph passed away suddenly from a heart attack on March 8, 1939.
Celia and Darlene moved to Sioux Falls for 18 months in 1940-41. They returned to Brookings the fall of 1941 and remained there until moving to Glasgow, MT, October of 1946. Darlene attended H.S. one year in Glasgow and returned to Brookings where she graduated from H.S. in May of 1949. Celia remained there 9 yrs. until back trouble forced her retirement from her job of cooking at the Deaconers Hospital in Glasgow.

Adolph's Obituary: Brookings, S.D. - A.C. Wettestad 52, manager of the Farmers Cooperative Co. here for the last two and one-half years, died suddenly Wednesday in the Brookings clinic while undergoing an examination for a heart ailment. Wettestad had gone to work as usual that morning but complained of "pains in my chest" about 9:30 o'clock and decided to have an examination. While Dr. Henrik Tillisch was examining him he suddenly clutched his heart and died. Dr. Tillisch gave the cause of death as angina pectoris. It occurred about 11 a.m. Mr. Wettestad is survived by his widow and one adopted daughter, Darlene, 7, of Brookings, and three brothers, Peter and Simon of St. James, Minn., and H.T. Wettestad of Arlington. He is also survived by two sisters, Mrs. Edward Kihle, Columbus, N.D., and Mary of St. James. The deceased spent a short time at Faulkton before coming to Brookings and prior to that time managed the Farmers Elevator at Colton for about 15 years. He had been in the grain business for 30 years in South Dakota and Iowa.
(part of another obituary) ...months at Faulkton where he was employed by the Tri-State Milling Co. Prior to that time he had served as manager of the Farmers Elevator at Colton for more that 10 years and many years at Harris, Iowa He had been in the grain business for the last 30 years. Funeral services will be held from the First Methodist church Saturday afternoon at 1 o'clock with the Rev. Edw. W. Stodghill officiating. Burial will be made in Lawn Pleasant cemetary at Sioux Falls. Mr. Wettestad was born at St. James, Minn., April 17, 1886 and with his parents moved to Harris, Iowa, in 1909. He was married to Cecelia Barnes on October 26, 1910 and to this union one daughter was born, who died in infancy. He then moved from Harris in 1918 and spent a number of years in North Dakota and South Dakota before settling at Colton in 1922 where he resided until 1936 when he moved temporarily to Faulkton and then to Brookings.

In her later years, Grandma Wettestad often stayed with us on our farm near Larchwood, Iowa. She had her own room off her granddaughter's room (a sort of small nursery) that is to this day called Grandma's room. She also had a room off the kitchen at one time with her own TV. We loved snuggling with Grandma while she watched her favorite shows. She also lived with her sister-in-law Bessie Barnes in Sioux Falls across from the Great Plains Zoo. She loved to knit and crochet and taught her grandchildren to tie their shoes. She also loved playing marbles and putting puzzles together. She gave the best back scratches. Some of her favorite meals were bread and gravy and sour cream on soft bread with a little sugar sprinkled on top. It was a treat to eat these meals with grandma. She was known as a kind, soft spoken woman, with a twinkle in her eye.
I remember having to wait to open Christmas morning presents until Grandma would wake up. Imagine four Grandchildren "quietly" staring down on a sleeping woman willing her to wake up. Now I think she was awake all the time, how could anyone sleep with four anxious children running around, and it was a game she played with us.
It was a warm fall day, Aug 17, 1972, when Mom, Dad and I went up Sioux Falls to check on Grandma Celia, as she wasn't feeling well. She was living with her sister in law at the time. I stayed with Aunt Bessie while Mom and Dad took Grandma to the doctor, who put her in Sioux Valley Hospital to have a pacemaker put in. At 9:30 p.m. that same day, Celia went on to be with the Lord and rejoined her beloved Adolph.