Alice Louise (Hamre) Arneson, age 90, (Sept. 29, 1929 – Nov. 15, 2019) lost her battle with Alzheimer’s disease and went to be with the Lord on Fri., Nov. 15, 2019, at her daughter’s home.

She was preceded in death by her parents Knut and Cora Hamre of Decorah, Iowa, her one day-old baby sister Corrine and her husband Marcus Arneson ‘49 of Wayzata, Minn. Alice is survived by her daughter Sylvia Corrine (John) Hawthorne (Bemidji, Minn.); her grandchildren Mihai Hawthorne (Tampa, Fla.) and Gabriela Halle (Bemidji, Minn.); her seven great grandchildren Mariah, Emma, Helena, Brooklyn, Bronson, Sylus and Kensley; her sister Lilly (Hamre) Womeldorf ‘55 (Decorah) and two nieces and one nephew.

Alice was born in 1929 in Decorah, Iowa, the oldest of two daughters. She was a graduate of Decorah High School and later attended the University of Iowa Nursing School and Luther College where she met and married Marcus Arneson ‘49. Her husband became a very successful life insurance salesman for Lutheran Mutual Life Insurance Company of Waverly, Iowa.

Alice’s daughter and only child, Corrine, was born in 1949. The family first settled in Albert Lea, Minn., then moved to Minneapolis and eventually to Wayzata, Minn., where she lived for 51 years.

With her family, Alice attended Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. She was an avid gardener and also very active in the local Wayzata community, being a longtime member of Welcome Wagon and the ladies chorus Symphoknolls.

She and her husband Marc traveled widely and enjoyed living on Lake Minnetonka until they moved into the Wayzata Villa condominiums, where she remained until late 2018. In later years they had a second home in Naples, Fla. as a winter retreat.

Alice was very involved in local politics and was secretary for the Wayzata Republican caucus for many years. In 1991 Alice used her political connections to help her daughter and son-in-law adopt boy and girl twins from Bucharest, Romania, her only grandchildren.

Alice was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in Nov. 2018, after hospitalization for a fall. The physicians recommended that she no longer live alone and would need constant care, so she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law to Bemidji, located in northern Minnesota. There she remained “blessed and beloved in the bosom of her family” until her death.

While her health deteriorated slowly over past year due to the progression of Alzheimer’s, she was always willing to smile and was grateful to be with her family. Alice’s stay with her daughter was a blessing not only for her, but for her daughter and son-in-law. Her faith, and the faith of her daughter and son-in-law were greatly increased in this last year of her life as they all participated in seeking God’s wisdom and blessing through Bible reading and prayer.

When Alice’s end came for her time on this earth, it came quickly and peacefully. We are confident she has joined her husband and parents in Heaven, and her family is at peace.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,

so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,

we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:4

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die,

we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live

or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

Romans 14:8