Obituaries

ALICE L. PETERSON, 88, of Deerwood died Dec. 22, 2025, in Aitkin, MN after a brief illness. She was born April 11, 1937, in the Bemidji Hospital, the daughter of Charles and Ellen (Marrs) Gray.   Alice graduated from Kelliher High School in 1955. After graduation, she answered a newspaper ad offering work at a resort, which brought her to Deerwood where she met her future husband and father of her children, Herbert (Pete) Swanson. They were married in 1955 and shared over 18 years together until Pete’s sudden death in a snowmobile accident in 1974.

STEPHEN "STEVE" EARL ANDREWS, 68 of Deerwood, passed away at his home on Dec. 24, 2025. He was born in Billings, MT on Oct. 10, 1957 to Charles and Jeanette (Anest) Andrews. He was the former owner of Andrew’s Trucking in Owatonna.  He was a member and past vice commander of the Son’s of American Legion (Walter Scott Erickson American Legion) and was a member of the Aitkin Legion Riders.

MELANIE JEAN LUNDQUIST (PETERSON), passed gently into Heaven's realms on Dec. 4, 2025. Mel was born at Miners Hospital on March 28, 1949 in Crosby, MN to Eric and Ellen Peterson.  She was the third of five children in a close-knit family with lots of aunts, uncles and cousins and one precious grandmother. She graduated from Crosby-Ironton High School in 1967.  Keyboards, whether typewriter or later computer, were no match for her flying fingers.  She was recommended for an after-school job at Halletts because of her skills.

BERNDT HUNTLEY GUSTAFSON, 75, of Brimson, died Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 of B-Cell Lymphoma. He died at home without pain surrounded by his family. He was born Oct. 12, 1950, in Duluth, MN, the son of Gustav and June (Johnson) Gustafson. He grew up in French River and attended Clover Valley schools. He joined the U.S. Army directly out of high school and became a Medic and Jump Master, serving in the 82nd Airborne Division. He attended the College of St. Scholastica for several years on the GI Bill and later married Debbie Susan Male on June 29, 1974.