Phyllis Sunsdahl, age 96, the last WWII veteran of Stephen, Minnesota, passed away on July 14, 2021, at Woodside Village, Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Phyllis Elaine (Thibodo) Sunsdahl was born September 2, 1924 to Ray Frederick Thibodo and Mary Irene Breese Thibodo and was the third of four children. The family resided in Fork Township, Marshall County, Minnesota until relocating to a newly purchased farm located in Eagle Point Township of Marshall County in 1935.

Phyllis grew up on the farm and performed many chores including working in the garden, feeding poultry, herding and milking cows, cleaning the barn, and gathering eggs. She very much enjoyed being her dad's helper.

She began her formal education at the Eagle Point country school later enrolling at the high school located in Stephen. The farm was a fifteen-mile trek from Stephen, necessitating her to board with a family in town during the week and returning home on the weekends.

4-H club played a big part in Phyllis' youth. In her senior year, she won the Marshall County Fair canning demonstration and received a trip to the Minnesota State Fair. Upon winning at the state level, her exhibit was sent to the National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago where it received a red ribbon.

Phyllis graduated from Stephen High School in 1941. After graduation she enrolled at the Minnesota School of Business in Minneapolis for secretarial and bookkeeping studies. After graduating, she returned home and was employed by Farmer's State Bank in Stephen.

After being employed at the bank for two years, Phyllis enlisted in the United States Army's WACS (Women's Army Corps). She received her basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In a letter dated January 1945 that she sent to the Stephen Messenger, the local weekly newspaper, she shared a host of her army experiences and commented, "During the warm weather last fall we had parades on our beautiful parade grounds. My biggest thrill came when cannon went off and everyone stood at attention and saluted the flag of our country as it was lowered." She was later transferred to Oak Ridge, Tennessee and played a role in The Manhattan Project. The top-secret mission at Oak Ridge was to extract uranium 235 from uranium ore, which produced a fissionable material that was used to complete the construction of the atomic bomb, Little Boy, the first atomic bomb used as a military weapon. Having a driver's license and being a farm girl, Phyllis knew how to operate a stick-shift and was assigned courier duties with a 1941 Ford sedan. Her job entailed the delivery of crypto-coded messages to various locations around the post and chauffeur duties for a major who was her superior officer. Phyllis was discharged from active-duty August 7, 1946 having achieved the rank of SGT. She returned home to Stephen and her job at the bank.

On October 12, 1948, she married Lawrence Charles Sunsdahl at the Presbyterian Church in Stephen. Phyllis worked alongside Lawrence at their business, Sunsdahl TV and Appliance, for many years, as store manager, bookkeeper, and salesperson. They retired and sold the appliance business in 1984 to their son David and his wife, Carol. In 1978 Lawrence, Phyllis, David, and Carol formed Stephen Cable, Inc. which was sold in 2009.

Phyllis and Lawrence were active members of the First Presbyterian Church until the Church closed in 2002. Afterwards she attended Community Presbyterian Church in Argyle, Minnesota. She was involved in countless church organizations, including being the first female member of the Session of the Stephen Presbyterian Church, Clerk of Session, and going on to take leadership positions in the Presbytery of the USA.

In 1980 Lawrence and Phyllis participated in a program through the Presbyterian Church to invite a Japanese student to spend the summer with an American family. Tomomichi Sugimoto stayed with the family and experienced American culture as a Stephenite.

Throughout her life, Phyllis was known as a committed volunteer and a doer. If you wanted something to get done, Phyllis was the one to call. She served as a volunteer for the American Legion Auxiliary, Order of Eastern Star, and Girl Scouts of the USA .

Phyllis was also known for her generous spirit and compassion. Once she had raised her children, she used her nurturing qualities to assist many of her aunts, uncles, friends, and acquaintances by providing care for their daily needs. Following the flood in 1997, she volunteered countless hours in the Grand Forks area to assist with various clean-up and rebuilding efforts.

Phyllis had a great respect for tradition and always prepared delicious home-cooked meals and treats on holidays and other special times of the year. She was known for her excellent potato salad. She could not stand for someone being alone on a holiday, so she would invite whomever she heard wasn't going to be with family, into our home for a meal. This often included not only anyone who was even remotely related, but any individual who was alone, including teachers.

Phyllis enjoyed her vegetable garden and delighted her family with home-cooked meals, pickles, and sauces. She sewed, crocheted, knitted, baked, pickled, canned, made jam and jelly, and made her own wine which was enjoyed by many.

Phyllis was a loving mother and grandmother and loved to have her grandchildren visit her in Stephen for extended periods of time during the summer. She loved Stephen and was proud of her community.

For leisure, she enjoyed antiques: everything from dishes to jewelry and furniture. She enjoyed collecting and started several collections for her children and grandchildren. She loved playing cards, games, and doing puzzles. She researched family history and partnered with other relatives to gather, consolidate, and share the information.

After they retired in 1984, Phyllis and Lawrence had the opportunity to do some traveling worldwide and enjoyed many cruises, road trips, and get-togethers while visiting relatives, friends and their daughters' families. She and Lawrence loved hosting class reunion parties for the alumnae of the 1930's and 1940's during the Stephen All-School reunions.

In 2005 they moved from their house of more than 50 years and became among the first residents of the newly built Tamarac Senior Living Complex in Stephen. She remained there until 2014 when she moved to Edgewood Vista assisted living facility in East Grand Forks. She later resided at Hearthstone neighborhood in the Woodside Village Complex in Grand Forks, North Dakota where she received excellent, loving care.

She is survived by her children, David (Carol) Sunsdahl of Stephen; Mary (James) Davenport of Glade Park, Colorado; Laura Bradford of Grand Junction, Colorado; and Donna (Richard) Pierson of New Berlin, Wisconsin; seven grandchildren, Elizabeth, Christopher, Meredith, Michael, Preston, Melody, and Julie; eight great-grandchildren; four great-great grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Lawrence, her parents, Ray F. and Mary (Breese) Thibodo, sister Verna (Thibodo) Miller, Jeannette (Thibodo) Kane, nephew Norbert Kane, and brother James Thibodo.

Funeral services will be held at 2 PM on Wednesday, July 21 at the Stephen Community Arts Center (the former First Presbyterian Church building). Visitation will begin at 1 PM. The funeral service will be live streamed on the Stephen Community Arts Facebook page. A reception will be held at the Stephen Community Center following the service.