Memorial services for Louise Kaufman Lofstedt, 88, of Ames, formerly of Grand Junction, will be 10:30 am Saturday, May 22, 2010 at the First United Methodist Church in Grand Junction, Iowa.  Burial will be in the Oakdale Cemetery in Adel, Iowa at 1:00 pm Saturday.  Memorials are suggested to the Grand Junction Public Library and may be left at Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home.

Beloved Mother and Grandmother, Louise Lofstedt died of a respiratory illness on May 19, 2010 at Northcrest Retirement Community in Ames, Iowa in the presence of her children.

On February 4, 1922, Louise was born to Frank and Anna (Miller) Bohlander at her family’s farm near Manilla, Iowa.  She had two older brothers and was the youngest of many cousins in two large and close knit Manilla area families.  Before graduating from Manilla High School, she had the joy of playing basketball in the Iowa Girls Basketball State Tournament and being a member of National Honor Society.  Following graduation, she moved to Des Moines to attend American Institute of Business and work as a bookkeeper for St. Paul Casualty Fire and Marine Insurance Company during the WWII war years.

In 1946 she married Ivan Kaufman, an Adel farmer and recent veteran of the war in Europe.  Three children were born of the happy marriage: Mary Acton of Des Moines, Carol Toman of Atherton, CA and Wayne Kaufman of Ames.  The couple farmed near Grand Junction for most of their marriage.  Besides being a partner in farming with her husband and raising three children, she was active in the First United Methodist Church of Grand Junction, a regular at the library, a sports fan, a gardener, a follower of current events and politics, hostess to many card playing friends and relatives, and a financial market investor.

When her husband, Ivan, died suddenly in 1969, she retired from farming and moved with her son, Wayne, to Grand Junction where she served the East Greene Community Schools as school board secretary.

Following seven years of widowhood, when her primary pursuits were raising Wayne and serving the school district, she married Eldon (Shorty) Lofstedt of Grand Junction in 1976.  Their marriage of thirty years included annual winter snowbird treks to Mesa, Arizona and summers at the cabin on Big Pelican Lake near Pequot Lakes, Minnesota.  During spring and fall months, they lived in Grand Junction, Iowa.  Their favorite year-around pastime was playing cards with friends.

After Mr. Lofstedt’s death in 2006, Mrs. Lofstedt made her home at Northcrest Retirement Community in Ames, Iowa.  Throughout her years, she expressed gratitude for her good health and devoted family.  Louise described her working and childrearing years as well as her retirement years as “great fun”.

Mrs. Lofstedt is also preceded in death by her parents and brothers.  Louise is survived by her children Mary Acton of Des Moines, IA, Carol ( Dave) Toman of Atherton, CA and Wayne (Debby) Kaufman of Ames, IA; grandchildren, Scott Linn, Tim Acton, Sarah Linn Gallardo; and great grandchild, Matthew Linn.