1919
Florine
2011
Florine Eveslage
November 27, 1919 — September 10, 2011
Florine "Mickey" Eveslage, 91, long-time Frazee resident and kindergarten school teacher, died on September 10, 2011, in Winthrop, MN, after a short illness.
The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday, September 16, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Frazee. Visitation will be at the Furey Funeral Home in Frazee on Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a prayer service beginning at 7 p.m. Burial will be in Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery. Lunch will be hosted in the Frazee Event Center's White Pine Room following the service.
Born to William and Cora Schwartz on November 27, 1919, in St. Cloud, she graduated from St. Cloud Technical High School in 1937 and earned her teaching certificate at St. Cloud State Teachers College in 1939. She taught elementary school near Foley for one year and then two years in Beardsley.
She married Donald Eveslage, her beau from high school and college, on June 6, 1942. They moved to Minot, ND, where Don taught social studies and coached 6-man football. Her first son was born in Minot in 1943.
They moved to Frazee the following year, when Don became the senior high school principal and social studies teacher. Sons Thomas (Sonja) of Philadelphia, Robert (Patty) of New Ulm, James (Jenni) of Rochester and Jon (Pat) of Burnsville grew up in Frazee.
Mickey taught first-grade in 1950, and in the 1960s taught in the Frazee VFW a six-week Head Start program that would become kindergarten. Mickey spoke proudly of her work developing and teaching in Frazee's first kindergarten program. By the late 1960s, she was teaching full-time kindergarten, a job she cherished until her retirement. Her grandchildren fondly remember trips to her kindergarten room or playing with the "feely box" she kept there.
After retirement in 1980, she used her teaching skills as a volunteer with residents of the Frazee Nursing Home. Mickey and Don kept their summer home on Wymer Lake near Frazee. But they traveled extensively, making trips to Australia, Europe and all parts of the United States. Seeking a warmer winter climate, they tried Texas one year, then Arizona, but settled on Florida.
For 23 years they spent winters in Apopka, outside Orlando. An evening card game was part of their daily ritual, plus bridge games with friends whenever possible. In 2006 their second home became The Rivers, an independent-living community in Burnsville, near son Jon and his family. She still played bridge there, and was a Red Hat member.
Don died in April of 2008. Two years later, Mickey moved to Orchard Hill, a New Ulm assisted-living facility close to her son Bob and his family.
Last December she wrote her own Christmas letter, a first for her. "Merry Christmas to all of you whom I miss very much," the letter began to friends everywhere. She wrote at length about her family... and Don ("I really miss him"), concluding her folksy letter with "I'm doing OK with the help of my family. Aren't families wonderful?"
Mickey is survived by her four sons and her sister Margie of Denver, CO, 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The family would like memorials sent to the Mickey and Don Eveslage Scholarship Fund for awards to graduating seniors at Frazee-Vergas High School. Those wishing to contribute may mail checks to: Eveslage Scholarship Fund, c/o Jim Eveslage, 1109 Knoll Court NW, Rochester, MN 55901.
The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday, September 16, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Frazee. Visitation will be at the Furey Funeral Home in Frazee on Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a prayer service beginning at 7 p.m. Burial will be in Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery. Lunch will be hosted in the Frazee Event Center's White Pine Room following the service.
Born to William and Cora Schwartz on November 27, 1919, in St. Cloud, she graduated from St. Cloud Technical High School in 1937 and earned her teaching certificate at St. Cloud State Teachers College in 1939. She taught elementary school near Foley for one year and then two years in Beardsley.
She married Donald Eveslage, her beau from high school and college, on June 6, 1942. They moved to Minot, ND, where Don taught social studies and coached 6-man football. Her first son was born in Minot in 1943.
They moved to Frazee the following year, when Don became the senior high school principal and social studies teacher. Sons Thomas (Sonja) of Philadelphia, Robert (Patty) of New Ulm, James (Jenni) of Rochester and Jon (Pat) of Burnsville grew up in Frazee.
Mickey taught first-grade in 1950, and in the 1960s taught in the Frazee VFW a six-week Head Start program that would become kindergarten. Mickey spoke proudly of her work developing and teaching in Frazee's first kindergarten program. By the late 1960s, she was teaching full-time kindergarten, a job she cherished until her retirement. Her grandchildren fondly remember trips to her kindergarten room or playing with the "feely box" she kept there.
After retirement in 1980, she used her teaching skills as a volunteer with residents of the Frazee Nursing Home. Mickey and Don kept their summer home on Wymer Lake near Frazee. But they traveled extensively, making trips to Australia, Europe and all parts of the United States. Seeking a warmer winter climate, they tried Texas one year, then Arizona, but settled on Florida.
For 23 years they spent winters in Apopka, outside Orlando. An evening card game was part of their daily ritual, plus bridge games with friends whenever possible. In 2006 their second home became The Rivers, an independent-living community in Burnsville, near son Jon and his family. She still played bridge there, and was a Red Hat member.
Don died in April of 2008. Two years later, Mickey moved to Orchard Hill, a New Ulm assisted-living facility close to her son Bob and his family.
Last December she wrote her own Christmas letter, a first for her. "Merry Christmas to all of you whom I miss very much," the letter began to friends everywhere. She wrote at length about her family... and Don ("I really miss him"), concluding her folksy letter with "I'm doing OK with the help of my family. Aren't families wonderful?"
Mickey is survived by her four sons and her sister Margie of Denver, CO, 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The family would like memorials sent to the Mickey and Don Eveslage Scholarship Fund for awards to graduating seniors at Frazee-Vergas High School. Those wishing to contribute may mail checks to: Eveslage Scholarship Fund, c/o Jim Eveslage, 1109 Knoll Court NW, Rochester, MN 55901.
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