Selma Selness

Selma L. Selness, age 84, of Willmar, died Thursday morning, July 26, at Bethesda Pleasantview Nursing Home in Willmar.
Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Monday, July 30, at the Willmar United Methodist Church with Rev. Dennis Hier officiating. Interment will be in the Cloverleaf Memorial Cemetery in Willmar. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements are with Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar.
Selma Lorraine Selness was born February 25, 1923, in Sisseton, South Dakota, the daughter of Marshall I. and Elva (Broadhecker) Okeson. She grew up in the Sisseton community, attended Robert County School and later Sisseton High School, graduating in 1940. She graduated from Northern State Teachers College in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1941. She taught at the Robert County School for a short time and later moved to San Francisco, California. On April 4, 1945, she married Melvin H. Selness in San Francisco. They lived in San Francisco and Bismark, North Dakota, before moving to Willmar in 1949. Selma worked at Lindstrand Implement until her retirement. She was a member of the Willmar United Methodist Church, where she taught Sunday School. She enjoyed needlework, embroidery and other crafts. She was an avid reader and a marvelous cook.
She is survived by her children, Sharon (and Jim) Sorenson of Clearwater, Daniel (and Val) Selness of Willmar, Vicky Chapin of Spicer and LeAnn (and Fernando) Gomez of Minneapolis; five grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; a sister, Evelyn Okeson of Willmar and other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Melvin in 1991 and a son-in-law, Lenny Chapin in 2004.