Gordon Anderson, 91, of Astoria, died Friday, March 3, 2017, in the Hendricks Nursing Home in Hendricks, Minn.  

Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Leganger Lutheran Church in Toronto.  Burial is in the Wood Lake Lutheran Cemetery in rural Astoria.  Visitation is Tuesday from 5 – 7 p.m. with a prayer service at 7 p.m. at the Hendricks Hospital Chapel in Hendricks.  The Houseman Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements.

Gordon W. Anderson was born on June 6, 1925, on the farm near Toronto, the youngest of Gustav and Emma (Larson) Anderson's eight children. He called Deuel County home for all his years here on earth. 

He attended school in Astoria and his older sisters, who affectionately called him Buddy, helped pay the cost of staying in the dorm so that he could graduate from Astoria High School in 1943.

He joined Gust on the family farm near Fish Lake in Scandinavia Township and there he would remain to make a living and a life for his family.

He married Delores E. Schmuck on June 17, 1949, and together, they raised six children on the farm. Those happy years were filled with hard work and plenty of fun. Hunting and fishing were favorite pastimes, and he instilled his love of the outdoors in all his family.

He was active in the community his entire life and served for many years as 4-H leader, secretary of the Astoria Grazing Association, Deuel County Farmer's Union board member, Astoria School board member, and as a Deuel County commissioner, retiring at the age of 87 after serving 12 years.

He never truly retired from farming, but later in life also found time to work for the Brookings-Deuel Rural Water reading water meters. He loved motoring into farm yards to tend to official business and then shoot the breeze and likely be invited to stay for a little lunch. A stranger was just a friend he hadn't met yet.

Gordon's zest for life was contagious, and he never passed up a chance to go square dancing with Delores, dress up in crazy costumes for Halloween, play cards to win, pull the kids skiing on Fish Lake behind the old wooden boat, ride horse around the pastures, and make the farm feel like home for nieces, nephews, and many family friends.

Devotion to family defined his life, and tough love was always tempered with wisdom and compassion. At the age of 64, Gordon donated a kidney to his son, Victor, after complications of diabetes forced Vic on to dialysis.

Delores died in 1991 just as the last of their 11 grandchildren came into the world. On June 16, 1994, he married Erlis Mickelson Singsaas, reconnecting nearly 50 years after they had dated in high school. Erlis understood that playing pinochle was a requirement of joining the family.

He was a proud Democrat and a lifelong member of Woodlake Lutheran Church.

Gordon and Erlis enjoyed the comfort and care of the wonderful staff at the Hendricks Nursing Home for the last years of their lives.

He is survived by his sister Adeline Koester of South Bend, Ind.; his children: David (Judy), Anita (Don Reker), Daniel (Lynette), John (Diana), and daughter-law, Terri; 13 grandchildren;  11 great-grandchildren; stepsons Terry (Janet), Ron (Margaret) Bruce, and Keith Singsaas; and the Singsaas grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by six siblings, wife of 42 years and mother of his children Delores, wife and partner of 22 years Erlis, and his sons Victor and Charles (Chuck).