Catherine Sederquist

Catherine Jane Sederquist passed away at the age of 91 on July 26, 2026, at Elim Meadows Nursing Home in Milaca, Minnesota.

Catherine was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 28, 1934, to Hugo and Hortense Dahlstrom. Catherine grew up with her younger sisters Nancy and Esther in Milaca, Minnesota, and was baptized at the First Baptist Church of Milaca. Catherine attended Milaca High School, and was active in band, choir, and many other activities. When she was a sophomore, she started dating a tall, handsome junior named Mark. For Christmas her senior year, Mark gave Catherine a diamond engagement ring. Catherine graduated in 1952 as the class Valedictorian.

Catherine received her elementary teaching degree from St. Cloud State Teachers College. In December 1954, she and Mark were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Milaca before moving to San Angelo, Texas, where Mark was stationed in the Air Force. Here Catherine taught for a short time before the birth of their first child, Karen, in 1956. She moved with Mark to Topeka, Kansas, where their son, Mark Allen (Bud), was born in 1958. After one more move, this time to Mountain Home, Idaho, Mark was honorably discharged from the Air Force and the young family moved back to Milaca where their third child, David, was born in 1960. Catherine then began teaching second grade at Milaca Elementary School.

In the fall of 1966, the family moved to Bagley, Minnesota, where Mark started teaching high school social studies and Catherine began teaching fourth grade at Fosston Elementary School. Catherine taught for 27 more years in Fosston, retiring with Mark in 1993. Together, they spent the next 25 years enjoying their family, grandchildren, many good friends, motorhome travel, winters in Texas, fishing trips, and their beautiful home on 36 acres north of Bagley.

In 2018, they sold their beloved home of nearly 50 years and moved to Country Meadows Assisted Living in Milaca, Minnesota, where they could be closer to their children, siblings, nieces and nephews, and old friends. In need of greater care, in 2025 Catherine and Mark moved into a room in the adjoining Elim Meadows Nursing Home where they lived together until Mark’s death on January 19, 2026. There, they celebrated 71 years of marriage on December 20, 2025.

Throughout her life, Catherine was one of those “super women” who could do just about anything and make it look easy. She balanced a demanding teaching career and managing a busy family and household. She was an absolutely fantastic cook and baker, and her family ate extraordinarily well. Fortunately for Catherine, she seemed to need only 5-6 hours of sleep each night, and she was an excellent organizer and planner. Many nights, after fixing, serving, and cleaning up supper, she would be up late into the night cleaning house, correcting papers and working on lesson plans, writing letters to her family in Milaca, sewing clothes, baking something delicious to share with others, or working on home improvement and decorating projects she thought vital. After her retirement, she enjoyed spending more time going out for lunch with her friends, adding to her clothing, jewelry, and shoe collections, going fishing on Lake Michigan with Mark, traveling the United States in their motorhome, and camping with their children and grandchildren at Red Lake. Catherine and Mark also enjoyed their “gourmet club” dinners with her many friends and their husbands, rotating between homes and preparing five star dinners. She was most happy having her children and grandchildren “come home” for the holidays and for weekend visits. During those special times, the Sederquist rambler was filled with laughter, lively debates, the smell of good food, and the warmth of the downstairs woodstove. Catherine eventually exerted her will and “convinced” Mark to add on a family room (which became known forever thereafter as “Mom’s room”) and a deck to accommodate their growing (in both height and number) family.

Catherine is survived by her children, Karen Linder, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bud (Paola) Sederquist, Avon, Montana, and David (Jane) Sederquist, Moorhead, Minnesota; grandchildren, Derek (Britta) Haukebo, Maren (Nate) Trisko, Haven (Gib) McIntosh, Tom (Turi) Sederquist, Dan (Savannah) Sederquist, Ryan (Christie) Sederquist, and Robin Littlewolf; great-grandchildren, Cooper Haukebo, Wesley and Benjamin McIntosh, Emma Trisko, Avery Sederquist, Dorothy, Evangeline, Juniper, and Penelope Sederquist, and Novi, Ella, and Hugo Sederquist; sister, Nancy Swanson; sister-in-law, Marian Peterson, brother-in-law, Jim Bemis; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Mark Sederquist; parents, Hugo and Hortense Dahlstrom; father- and mother-in-law, Mark and Helen Sederquist; sister, Esther Bemis; brothers-in-law, Dennis Peterson and Jerry Swanson; and nephews, Dwight Swanson and Don Bemis.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, August 28th at 11:00 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 735 2nd Street SE, in Milaca, Minnesota. Visitation will take place at 10:00 a.m., with a lunch following the service. Those who wish to remember Catherine in a special way may make gifts in her memory to the American Cancer Society or local hospice organization.