Loretta Ostendorf

Loretta A. Ostendorf, age 89 of Freeport, died on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at the Melrose Area Hospital in Melrose, Minnesota, as a result from an automobile accident.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, August 7, 2008 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Freeport with Rev. Roger Klassen, OSB officiating. Inurnment will be held at a later date in the parish cemetery.

Friends may call from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Freeport. Freeport Christian Mothers and Goldenaires Senior Citizens will pray at 6 p.m. followed by parish prayers at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening at the church.

Loretta Ostendorf was born on March 29, 1919 in Freeport, Minnesota to Joseph and Elizabeth (Schroeder) Korte and lived in Freeport all of her life. Loretta married Erhard Herman Ostendorf on December 30, 1940 and farmed four miles south of Freeport until 1980, when they moved to town. She was a member of Christian Mothers, past member of Sacred Heart Adult Choir, an avid reader and member of Aquina Book Club. She enjoyed sewing, music plus played piano and sang in Erhard's Polka Band. Besides her unending love of each of her five children and her grandchildren, she was not a complainer, and always seemed very spirited with a positive outlook. She also had an unbelievably strong historical memory of events on her life and those of other people around her that she knew.

Survivors include her five children, Arlene (Tom) Samsel of New Brighton, Hal (Carolyn) Ostendorf of Sunnyvale, CA, James Ostendorf of Scotts Valley, CA, Donald (Rosie) Ostendorf of St. Cloud, and Mary Pearson of Eden Prairie; 10 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Erhard Ostendorf on February 23, 1995; and four brothers, Bernard, Norbert, Conrad and Frank Korte.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are strongly preferred to the Diabetes Association or Arthritis Foundation.