Mildred Myrtle Victoria France

Mildred “Millie” France, 98 years, died on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 at Golden Horizons Assisted Living and Memory Care facility in Pine City, MN. Mildred Myrtle Victoria Hegstrom Auers France was born July 26, 1917 on her parents’ farm in St. James, MN. She was the oldest of five children born to Victor and Adga (Nelson) Hegstrom. She was baptized at the East Sveadahl Lutheran Church in St. James, MN on September 3, 1917. In March of 1922, when Millie was age 5, her parents moved to a farm 4 miles east of Pine City on the Old Government Road. They had moved all their possessions including the livestock by train to Pine City. Millie’s siblings, Lorraine, twin boys Kenneth and Harold (Harold died shortly after birth) and Marvin were all born on the farm by Pine City. All 4 children went to school at the Pine Grove Country School one mile south of their farm home, from 1st to 8th grades. After finishing 8th grade Millie attended Pine City High School, walking the 4 miles to and from school. She graduated in the spring of 1935. On May 31st, 1931 Millie was confirmed from the Pine Grove Evangelical Lutheran church. In 1946, Pine Grove Evangelical Lutheran church and Milburn Scandinavian Lutheran church merged and formed the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. Millie’s first love was Emil Fred France, they met at a dance at the Armory in Pine City. They dated for one year, but it was not to be and they went their separate ways. After graduating from high school, Millie went to Minneapolis to work. Her first job was cleaning houses. One of the houses she cleaned was for the Vice President of Pillsbury. She was a very hard worker and worked many jobs in her life time. These jobs included a soda cracker factory; selling food products, head clerk at a grocery store; Cudahy Meat Packing Plant; a department store; and seasonally at Medtronic Company and the Pukwana Shores Camp Ground. In October 2, 1937 Millie married Roy Laurie Auers at the Pine Grove Evangelical Lutheran Church. Roy and Millie moved to a house in Newport and from this union two children were born, James Roy Auers and Milly Jean Lorraine Auers. In 1959, they sold their home and moved to North Minneapolis to live and work. Both of their children married in 1962 and Roy and Millie bought a resort 12 miles northeast of McGregor, on Round Lake. It was called “Pukwana Shores Camp Ground. In 1975 they sold it to two cousins. Millie and Roy then moved to Pine City for a while and later bought a house in Princeton, MN where they lived until Roy’s death in June, 1979. Emil France heard that Millie was widowed, he contacted her and their relationship blossomed to marriage on June 12, 1980. They had about seven good years together before Emil was stricken with Alzheimer’s. He had moved to the Rush City Nursing Home until his death on December 19, 1992. In the mean time, Millie moved into the Walt Johnson Apartments. She stayed there for 18 years. In December 2007 Millie moved to the Westchester Apartments. Then she moved to Golden Horizons Assisted Living facility in December 2009. In November 2013 she moved into the new Memory Care wing of Golden Horizons until her death. Millie was a long standing church member since she was 5 years old. In her golden years she belonged to the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church quilting group and help make many beautiful quilts. She also worked at many of the church’s functions during her church membership years. Millie is preceded in death by her parents, Victor and Agda Hegstrom; her husbands, Roy Laurie Auers and Emil Fred France; son, James Roy Auers; daughter, Milly Jean Auers Cromwell; son-in-law, Douglas Cromwell; grandson, James Michael Auers; three brothers and sister-in-laws, Harold, Kenneth, Marvin, Marion and Alta Hegstrom; and brother-in-law Reynold Holmberg; plus two nieces and a nephew. She is survived by her daughter-in-law, Kay Lee Auers, Walker; step-daughter-in-law, Carol (Norman) Cromwell Hutrheraft, Buena Vista, CO; step-daughters, Betty Ann (Bob) France-Sterbentz, Marine On St. Croix; and Susan (Wade) FranceWeber, Mora; one sister, Lorraine Holmberg, Braham; grandchildren: Theresa Auers, Hackensack; Kristine (John) Wilkinson, Princeton; Kelly Auers (Yanni Penso), Taos, NM; Jeanne (Jim) Corey, Broomfield, CO; step-grandchildren: Caroline (Jeremy) Houdek Solomon, South Minneapolis; Brian Houdek and Brad Houdek, Hugo, MN; Jackie Pike, Wendy, David, Billy (Crystal), and Michael Cromwell; great grandchildren: Jordan Boser, Delray Wilkinson, Dawn and Patrick Auers Penso and Jordan Cromwell; great great grandchild, Gabby and many other relatives and friends. Reverend Marion Rova will officiate funeral services for Millie at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Pine City. A time of visitation is planned for one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will take place at a later date at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Princeton. Funeral arrangements for Millie France of Pine City are entrusted to the Funeral and Cremation Service of Pine City ~ Swanson Chapel. www.funeralandcremationservice.com