Glenda Shirley (Landsgaard) Timmer

Glenda Shirley (Landsgaard) Timmer was born August 2, 1934 in rural Gunder, Iowa, to Gunnar and Selma (Knudtson) Landsgaard, the eldest of 2 daughters. She attended school in St. Olaf through eighth grade before graduating from Elkader High School in 1952. She furthered her education at Luther College in Decorah, studying music, education, and social studies and graduating in 1956.

Throughout her school years, music was paramount in Glenda’s life. As a student, she regularly starred in operettas like Heidi, sang in groups, took solos to contest, and sang at church. While at Luther, she was accepted into the Nordic Choir and became a two-time Messiah soloist.

She first taught for one year at Monona before taking the job in Greene. She loved the community and her students, renting a room from Fern and Edna Stauffer. She met her future husband Pete Timmer when he joined the teaching staff there in 1961. When he got a scholarship to study genetics at the University of Iowa, he invited her to get her Master’s Degree as well – something she constantly said she wouldn’t have done without his push. While at Iowa, she had the privilege of studying under the esteemed Dr. Harald Stark. They married over Christmas break, December 27, 1964. After graduating from Iowa, Glenda taught for one year in Ventura before they moved to Allison to take jobs at Allison-Bristow. They taught at the school until 1975, when she began her in-home private music studio.

Glenda and Pete adopted a daughter, Randi Jo, in November of 1978. They raised her in Allison, while managing the family farm with hogs, sheep, purebred Polled Hereford cattle and crops. Glenda was a proud wife and mother who loved her extended family and her students alike. The other constant in her life was her faith. She was baptized, confirmed, and later married in her beloved Norway Lutheran Church.

Glenda loved working with her students, and leading music at St. John Lutheran in Clarksville. She led the choir, handbell choir, and many times handled the music for Bible School and the kids’ Christmas program. She was fortunate to have the opportunity to be godmother to church music “students” Melissa and Sarah Smith. The honor of this was not something she took lightly. Decades of inspiring children and helping students prepare for music contests meant she worked with multiple generations. The lives she touched are too numerous to mention.

Their world was given two more shining stars when their granddaughters were born. Glenda adored the girls more than anything else and spent as much time as possible with them.

Pete passed away in 2015, breaking the heart of his wife of almost 51 years. After this, her will to live diminished significantly and the dementia began to become more obvious. Breaking her second hip put her into Bartels and she gradually became much weaker, being placed under hospice care in 2022. She was her

primary nurse’s longest patient, and the staff of Cedar Valley Hospice that visited her all became part of her extended “family”.

Glenda’s dementia took a sharp turn 2 weeks before her passing, but she had visits from friends, family, and former students up until the very end. She succumbed to her age and the dementia on Thursday morning, February 6, 2025. Left behind to mourn her passing are her daughter Randi Jo Timmer of Allison; Granddaughters Kjersti (Kian Underwood) Snyder of Fairdale, ND and Ambjor Snyder of Goodridge, MN. 2 Nephews and their families, numerous cousins, friends, and former students she considered as family. Glenda was preceded in death by her parents, Gunnar and Selma, her sister Virginia and brother-in-law James Luster, and her beloved husband Pete Timmer.

Visitation will be held from 4-8:00 p.m. on Monday, February 10, 2025, at the Kaiser-Corson Funeral Home in Waverly. Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 11, at Norway Lutheran Church, rural St. Olaf, with a visitation beginning at 10:00 a.m. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Memorials may be directed toward the family for a later designation. Online condolences may be left at kaisercorson.com.

Kaiser-Corson Funeral Home in Waverly is in charge of arrangements. 319-352-1187