DANA LOSES A SCHOLAR, TEACHER AND MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

Luella Nielsen ’42, a longtime professor in Dana’s English department, died Sunday, June 1, in Albert Lea, Minn. Her death is a great loss of the Dana family.

Luella was born Aug. 23, 1919, in Mankato, Minn., to Meta Wolter Kaeding. Because her father, Arthur Kaeding, died of the Spanish influenza before she was born, the only father she knew was John Nielsen, whom her mother married in 1924.

Luella completed her grade and high school education in Albert Lea, Minn., graduating as valedictorian of her class in 1937. She continued her education at Dana and at the University of Minnesota, from which she received an master of arts degree. She completed post-graduate work at both the University of Wyoming and the University of Vermont.

Luella taught high school in Pender, Neb., and Blair. She then became a professor of English at Dana in 1958, a position she would hold for the next three decades. In her time at Dana, she influenced thousands of students with her love for the written word. When she retired in 1986, Dana rewarded her excellence in teaching by naming her professor emeritus. She continued to teach part-time at Dana until the early 1990s. She also spent many hours serving as a volunteer necrologist for the Danish Immigrant Archive at Dana.
Teaching, reading and travel were her great delights, winning her the appreciation of decades of high school and college students. For her career as a teacher, she was named a distinguished alumna of Dana in 1973.

During her academic career, Luella was active in the American Association of University Professors, the American Association of University Women, the Midwest Modern Language Association, the Washington County Teachers Association, the Lutheran Daughters of First Lutheran Church of Blair, and the Washington County Democratic Party.

Luella is survived by two brothers, John W. D ’47 T ’53, and James ’53; two sisters, Eleanor ’50 Shou and Margaret ’61 Rodenburg; and 29 nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be designated for Dana College, the Danish Immigrant Archive or Trinity Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.