Laureen Thorstad

MADISON- Laureen Dorothy Seefeldt Thorstad, beloved wife, mom, grandma and friend, passed away on Wednesday, March 6th at Agrace Residential facility in Fitchburg. Laureen was born August 6, 1938, in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the only child of Lawrence and Irene (Luebke) Seefeldt. She graduated there from Washington High School in 1956. In 1960 she graduated with Senior Honors from the UW School of Human Ecology in Madison, with a dual major in Agricultural Journalism and Retailing. She was initiated into the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi in 1960. After graduation she worked at Montgomery Ward & Co. in Chicago writing copy about rose bushes and lawn mowers for their Garden Catalog.

On November 12, 1960, she married Ronald C. Thorstad in Two Rivers, and moved to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina where Ron was a Lieutenant with the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army. Six months later, Ron was sent to Korea and she came back to Madison to work as Assistant Advertising Director at Manchesters Department Store. She visited Ron in Korea in 1961, and when she returned she became a Project Assistant for the University of Wisconsin Press until 1964 when they began their family. From then on Laureen did freelance and volunteer work...editing two books (one from Robert Gard, Wisconsin's Writer in Residence), doing newsletter and publicity for World Dairy Expo, Bethel Lutheran Church, the Reach to Recovery program of the American Cancer Society, the School of Family Resources and Consumer Sciences and John Muir Elementary School. Laureen served as president of a number of organizations and held a two year appointed term on the Long Range Planning Committee of the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Laureen was active in her church, Bethel Lutheran. In 1976 she completed the two-year teacher training class for the Bethel Bible Series and taught the study for six years. She served on the Church Council and led the Adult Education committee for many years. In 1995 she and Ron moved to two acres in the Town of Middleton. There she developed and maintained a woodland and prairie. Her genealogical research of four family lines widened her circle of relatives and ended with a publication of a book on the Seefeldt Family. Travelling was what Laureen and Ron loved most. With their family they towed a Jayco popup every summer to either the east or the west. Eventually, camping became boating on the Great Lakes. When their family left home, they traveled to Europe, Canada, and their favorite, Sanibel Island. New England became a focus when one son moved to Boston.

Two Cairn Terriers, Schnutz and Scruffy, gave her a combined thirty years of pleasure, but she was most delighted to be with her grandchildren. She is survived by her husband, Ronald; son James Thorstad (Barbara Horton) of North Reading, Massachusetts; daughter Jae Ellen Werndli (Todd) of Waunakee; son Thomas Thorstad of Madison; grandchildren Isabel and Julia Thorstad, and Alex and Maggie Werndli; sisters-in-law and brother-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, and Minneapolis relatives; and many special friends. Memorials may be made to Bethel Lutheran Church, The Adult Christian Education Foundation (The Bethel Bible Series), and The Prairie Enthusiasts.

Laureen wanted to give thanks to the physicians and nurses who cared for her over the years.

A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, March 16th, 2019 at 11 a.m. at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Rd, Madison. Friends may greet family at 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service. Laureen will be laid to rest at Roselawn Memorial Gardens, where she loved to see the old sugar maples in their fall glory.


Cress Funeral and Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Rd, Madison
608-238-3434