Louise Bjorklund

Louise Sumner Archbold Bjorklund - PHOTO
MADISON - Louise Bjorklund, 87, of Madison, died May 6, 2016 at her residence in Oakwood Village West. The journalist and teacher was the widow of Robert Carl Bjorklund, former Farm Editor for the Wisconsin State Journal and a very influential reporter on agricultural policy. Louise shared her husband's passion for news writing, and celebrated his forty-year career at the Journal by editing a book of his articles, Bob's Wisconsin Dairy Friends, published in 2004. More recently, Louise herself was in the news in March of last year, when she presented the University of Wisconsin with her beloved husband's voluminous lifework including photos, and vintage typewriters and cameras, a project which she spent years compiling. This trove of journalism, from 1949 to 1989, reveals major agricultural transitions in Wisconsin, and will be an important research source for UW students.
Born in Syracuse, NY, to Barbara Curtis and William Cornell Archbold, Mrs. Bjorklund was raised in Swarthmore, PA, near Philadelphia, where she graduated from high school with the class of 1947. With a keen wit, gentle demeanor, and impeccable manners Louise was also fun-loving, adventurous and intellectually curious. She was an avid skier, and growing up loved sailing, swimming and canoeing at the family cottage on Lake Keuka in upstate New York, activities she continued to enjoy later on lake Mendota.
Mrs. Bjorklund earned her BA in Home Economics from Philadelphia's Drexel University. She taught in the public schools of New Castle, DE, before pursuing her master's degree at Cornell University. After graduation, she accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Wisconsin, where she taught, wrote, hosted local radio programs and, worked on her doctorate in Economics. At the age of thirty, while she was building her career in academia and journalism she suffered a ruptured aneurysm. After she recovered, she met and married "Bob" Bjorklund, sharing his sense of humor, enthusiasm for news, politics and rooting for the Badgers. They walked to football games together from their home on Commonwealth Avenue, and attended Grace Episcopal Church. They also enjoyed going to Mr. Bjorklund's family farm in Janesville.
Soon after her husband died in 2004, Mrs. Bjorklund moved to Oakwood Village, where she made new friends and enjoyed the company of lifelong friends from her days at the University of Wisconsin. With her friendly personality and infectious laugh, Mrs. Bjorklund enthusiastically participated in Oakwood's musical, theatrical, and artistic activities. She was close to her brother William Cornell Archbold Jr. and his family and enjoyed coming back to visit them in Philadelphia and at Lake Keuka.
She is survived by her niece Cynthia Anne Archbold; her niece and God-daughter Cassandra Kendrick Archbold; their mother, Janice Kendrick Archbold; and Cassandra's four children: John, Alexandra, William, and Gwendolen.
The funeral will be held at 10:00 AM on Monday May 15, 2017 at OAKWOOD VILLAGE WEST, UNIVERITY WOODS AT RESURRECTION CHAPEL, 6201 Mineral Point Road, Madison. A visitation will be from 9:00 AM until the service at Oakwood on Monday. A private burial will take place at Merrill Memorial Park.

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