Strand, Vivian Suzelle (Stark)

Vivian Suzelle (Stark) Strand, 90, of Toddville, died Thursday, March 7, 2013, at St. Luke's Hospital, Cedar Rapids. Funeral Service: 10 a.m. Monday, March 11, at the Toddville Free Methodist Church, by the Rev. Mark Lofquist. The family will greet friends from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 10, at Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Center, Marion, and also one hour before the service at the church on Monday. Burial: Lafayette Cemetery, rural Alburnett.

Survivors include her children, Ron (Katy) Strand of Columbia, Tenn., Dale (Patsy) Strand of Toddville, Valerie (David) Morris of Salina, Kan., and Jody (Janice) Strand of Toddville; daughter-in-law, Sara Strand of Marion; 16 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren. Also surviving are several stepgrandchildren and stepgreat-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ed; her son, Merrill; and siblings, Virgil Stark, Gordon Stark, Harold Stark, Adele Winter, Dagny Prickett and Ethel Magnuson.

Vivian was born Jan. 20, 1923, in Land Township, rural Grant County, Minn., the daughter of Axel and Lilly (Johnson) Stark. She graduated from a W.S.C.A. agriculture school in Minnesota. Vivian married Edisteen Strand in October 1943. Ed died Nov. 10, 1997. She and Ed made their home and ran a dairy farm together for 22 years, along with Ed's brother, Milton, and his wife, Virginia Strand. In 1969, Ed and Milt established Strand's Arabian Stables, which Ed and Vivian operated together until 1997.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Toddville Free Methodist Church in Vivian's memory.

Please sign the online guest book for Vivian at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.

Published March 9, 2013 in The Gazette