Doris Selander

Doris Pamela (Bowman) Selander, 97, passed away August 30, 2012 at the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center in Fitchburg, WI after suffering a stroke on August 26.
She was born October 12, 1914 in South Heart, ND to Oscar Ferdinand and Petra Amanda (Nelson) Bowman. In 1917 the family moved back to the Grantsburg area where Doris attended Grettum Grade School with Eunice Kanne (soon to be 105 years old!) as one of her teachers. After graduating from Grantsburg High School in 1932, she went to Red Mound, WI to help her Aunt Agnes and Walter Hoff with their four children.
Doris earned a teaching certificate in 1935 from a one-year teachers' training course at the high school in Grantsburg. Her first school was at Alstad (Logging Creek) in Burnett Co., WI, where she was paid $60 per month and endured the harsh winter of 1935-36 which saw 35 consecutive days of sub-zero temperatures, one day being minus 51 degrees. The water in her bedroom wash basin would freeze overnight! From 1937-1940 she taught 5th and 6th grades in Webster, WI and attended summer school in Superior to further her education.
On April 7, 1942, she married Philip Oliver Selander at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, IA. They lived for five years in St. Paul where Doris worked in the coffee shop at the Capitol and State Office Building and later as an inspector of telephones at Western Electric. In 1947 they moved to a farm south of Grantsburg where Doris became a hardworking and caring stay-at-home mom to her daughter Vranna, also raising a large garden and helping with farm chores.
Several years were devoted to caring for foster children: Martin, Lawrence and Robert Johnson; Clarence, Gordon (Rogers) and Yvonne Daydodge; and Mary (Casler) Evenson, several of whom surprised her by attending her 85th birthday party in 1999. Mary has moved to Tennessee but has tried to visit Doris every summer for several years, which Doris greatly enjoyed.
Her husband, Philip, passed away in 1974 and in 1980 Doris moved to Middleton, WI to live with her daughter and family who were blessed to have her with them for 32 years. Getting to be with her grandchildren for so many years was a special delight to her. During this time she also volunteered more than 500 hours at the coffee shop in Meriter Hospital (formerly Madison General) and also worked for over 25 years at the election polls.
Two highlights of her life came when in 1984 she went to the Holy Lands in Israel and was baptized by Pastor Dan Hayden in the Jordan River; and in 1993 when she went with nephew Dean (and Karen) Luedtke and niece Dianne Luedtke Strom to visit cousins in Norway.
Daily devotions were a priority in her life and even the day before her stroke, she was underlining and taking notes in her Bible. A wonderful testimony to her family and friends!
Doris was preceded in death by her parents; husband Philip; brother Gordon Bowman and his wife MayBelle; sister Beatrice and her husband Bert Luedtke; niece Donna Mae Bowman; nephew Charles Bowman; niece-in-law Elsie (Hoffman) Luedtke; nephew-in-law Michael Delmonico; and grandniece Tina (Luedtke) Hinrichs.
She is survived by daughter, Vranna and her husband Perry Manor; grandchildren Becca, Betsy and Philip (Manor); nieces and nephews Armand Luedtke, Orland (Luella) Luedtke, Dean (Karen) Luedtke, Dianne (Richard) Strom; Darlene (Mark) Wicks; Owen (Debbie) Bowman, Carol Jean Bowman, Barbara (Wes) Radke, Gordon Bowman Jr. and friend Christine DeLaria, Karen (Mrs. Charles) Bowman, Marilynn (Paul) Gorney and Carol (Rod) Glonek; and many cousins and other relatives and friends.
Services will be held on Sunday, September 2, 2012 at Twin Valley Free Will Baptist Church, 4036 Twin Valley Road, Middleton, visitation at 11:30 a.m., with a service at 12 noon, and a luncheon to follow. A memorial service will also be held Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. at THE GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH in Grantsburg, WI.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Twin Valley Free Will Baptist Church (4036 Twin Valley Rd, Middleton, WI 53562); Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center (5395 E. Cheryl Parkway, Madison, WI 53711); or Bethany Lutheran Church (22384 State Rd 48/87, Grantsburg, WI 54840).