ROCHESTER -- The funeral for Palmer L. Godtland will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Zumbro Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Carol A. Solovitz officiating. Burial will be in Grandview Memorial Gardens, with military graveside rites by the Rochester American Legion.
Mr. Godtland, 85, of Rochester, a retired IBM employee, died Monday (Aug. 19, 2002) in Madonna Towers nursing care area.
He was born April 12, 1917, in Butte, Mont. He worked for the Army Corps of Engineers from 1942 to 1946 in Lincoln, Neb., later for the Internal Revenue Service in Kalispell and Miles City, Mont., and at Rochester Dairy for a short time. He was manager of the payroll department at IBM for 24 years until his retirement in 1980. From 1954 to 1986, he owned and operated Godtland's Lodge of Rochester.
In 1946, he married Bernice Jensen in Lincoln; she died in 1951. He married Bernice Steinlicht in 1954 in Rochester; she died in 1981. On June 10, 1982, he married Evelyn Lobland in Rochester. She survives and is a homemaker. Mr. Godtland had lived at Madonna Towers since October 2001. A member of Zumbro Lutheran Church, he was a Sunday school teacher, served as treasurer during construction of the church, was a Cub Scout leader, and a member of the Men's Club and Senior Fellowship. He was a life member of Vesterheim Museum, a member of Senior Citizens and Sons of Norway, a charter member and first treasurer of Golden K Kiwanis Club, a former member of the Young At Heart Singers, Nordic Singers and several square dancing clubs, and volunteered in the community, including as Christmas Anonymous bicycle fix-it man. He enjoyed traveling.
Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Elaine (Aviv) Hassid of Memphis, Tenn., Janice (Mike) Meyer of Sioux Falls, S.D., and Betty Ganje of Rexford, N.Y.; five sons, Paul (Nancy) of Chamberlain, S.D., Jim (Barbro) Lobland of Las Vegas, Jerry (Betty) Lobland and Terry (Susanne) Lobland, both of Rochester, and Larry Lobland of Chatfield; 18 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and a brother, Harold "Pete" (Carol) of Butte. A brother and a sister preceded him in death.
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Friends may call from noon until the service Thursday at the church.
Vine Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Memorials are suggested to Zumbro Lutheran Church.
