Ardel Stiles

Ardel J. Stiles, age 77, of Willmar, passed away Tuesday morning, September 14, at Carris Health Rice Memorial Hospital.

A celebration of life service will be held on Saturday, October 9, at the Word of Faith Church in Willmar.  Sympathy cards may be sent directly to the family:  Joy Lang, 16511 Quartz St NW, Ramsey, MN 55303

Ardel Joy (Ufer) Stiles was born on October 8th, 1943 in Truman Minnesota. She was the oldest of six children of Lyle and Gladys (Draeger) Ufer. Ardel grew up on the family farm near Truman. The family was part of Trinity Lutheran Church. Ardel graduated high school and became a nurse at Methodist Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester, MN . While in nursing school, Ardel met her future husband, Charles Stiles, on a singles canoe trip to the Boundary Waters through a church retreat. After dating for several months, they were married in November of 1965. Chuck and Ardel celebrated 55 years of marriage last November. Chuck passed away last January at Bethesda Care center in Willmar Minnesota. They were blessed with five wonderful children. Charles, Molly, Dale, Anna and Joylena. Chuck and Ardel lived in multiple communities throughout Minnesota and spent 32 years raising their children in Northfield before moving to Willmar about 20 years ago.

Ardel was VERY active in her church throughout her life. She loved to work in the church kitchen, clean bathrooms, and make sure everything was in order at church. She loved organizing and putting everything in its place. She also LOVED finding good deals at thrift stores and passing those deals on to her loved ones and those in need. Her love language was giving. She loved donating goods and money to charities and good causes. It was extremely important to her to financially support Christian ministries. You would be hard pressed to find someone with a greater servant's heart than Ardel.

Ardel and Chuck also loved traveling. They took their children on many family road trips across the United States throughout their lives, owning many different campers and RVs through the years. Ardel and Chuck were able to take many trips together in their retirement years as well. Ardel loved visiting family and Christian ministries in her travels. She also was able to go on missions trips to Mexico. Participating in food ministry in California was another fun adventure.

Ardel is survived by her five children: Charlie Stiles, Molly (and Tony) Morris, Dale (and Colette) Stiles, Anna Stiles (and Jim Sopland), Joylena (and Jesse) Lang and her step son Michael (and Jeanette) Perkowski. She is also survived by 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She is survived by her four siblings: Karen (and Roger) Lueth, Mark (and Julie) Ufer, Ellen (and Art) Gieseke, and Jay (and Carolyn) Ufer, besides many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband Charles Stiles, brother Robert Ufer, and parents, Lyle and Gladys Ufer.