Lionel R. Anderson, 91, Albert Lea

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 4, 2004

The memorial service for Lionel R. Anderson will be held 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at First Presbyterian Church, Albert Lea. The Rev. Dwight Netzer will officiate. Burial will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Rose Hill Cemetery, Wells. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Bonnerup Funeral Service.

Lionel died on Monday, Feb. 2, 2004, at Albert Lea Medical Center. He was 91 years old.

Lionel was born in Cove, Minn., on Nov. 29, 1912, the son of Oscar and Ernestine (Reichl) Anderson. He graduated from high school in Onamia, Minn., in 1930 and completed the electrical course at Dunwoody Institute in Minneapolis. In 1936 he was employed by the Kraft Cheese Co. in Albert Lea as plant electrician. He then transferred to St. Paul and Hutchinson before returning to Albert Lea in 1938 to rebuild and rewire the new milk plant.

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Lionel was united in marriage to LuVae Kelley on Oct. 30, 1938, at the First Presbyterian Church in Albert Lea. He worked for electrical contractors in Albert Lea and Austin and then with a general contractor wiring industrial buildings in Minnesota and northern Iowa. In October 1942 he took a temp job with Interstate Power as an engineer and electrician and was promoted to plant engineer. In 1945 he was promoted to plant superintendent In Montgomery, and in 1948 as plant superintendent in Albert Lea. In 1967 Lionel was transferred to the general office in Dubuque, Iowa, where he managed the system dispatch center for the next ten years. In 1977 he retired and built a new home in Albert Lea in 1980.

Lionel was a member of the First Presbyterian Church and held various offices and worked on several committees. He was a charter member of the Golden K1 Kiwanis Club in Albert Lea, and loved to spend time in his garden. He was an avid woodworker, enjoyed playing golf and bridge, and spending time working around the house. Together they spent their winters in Arizona and always made it to the family reunion in Northern Minnesota in August.

Lionel is survived by his wife, LuVae of Albert Lea; children: Larry (Judy) Anderson of Chanhassen, Minn., and their children, Debra and Patricia Anderson, and Lory (Dennis) Wold of Minnetonka, and their children, Kelly (Dan) Smith and Jeffery Wold; and one brother, Don (Vera) Anderson of Onamia.

He was preceded in death by his parents and six brothers and sisters.

Memorials preferred to the First Presbyterian Church of Albert Lea.