Ardis E. Baumann

Ardis E. (Holden) Baumann, 92, formerly of Sioux City, died Dec. 23, 2015, in Vancouver, Wash., of various age-related ailments.

Memorial services will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home in Sioux City, with a grave site visit to follow.

Ardis, the only child of Norwegian immigrants, Albert and Eline Holden of Sioux City, was born May 15, 1924. She graduated in 1942 from a Sioux City high school and attended secretarial school soon after graduation.

Ardis married Walter Gerhardt Baumann and had four children. In her 50s, she enrolled in the music education program at Tulsa University. Her four children attended college with two earning advanced degrees, an indication of the importance she placed on education.

Ardis was involved in music from childhood to her last days as proven by her now 85-year-old piano which traveled with her on her many moves. Ardis participated in school and church choirs, Sun City Singers, Tulsa Opera Theater and other choral groups from high school on. Her love of music and reading was passed along to her children and grandchildren who to this day are involved in stage, dance and music.

Bridge was a life-long hobby. Ardis began with party bridge and then studied duplicate bridge with all its complex conventions which gave her many hours of enjoyment and frustration. Her children and husband also were amazed when Ardis began taking belly dancing lessons in the early 1970s which inspired her children to realize it is never too late to learn something new and exciting.

Over the decades, she continued to be an avid gardener, confronting bad soil, insects, crab grass or whatever challenge presented itself in her efforts to maintain her lovely lawn and garden. In her 70s, she still was wielding a pick axe in her labors to improve the clay soil common in Oregon and Washington.

During World War II, Ardis worked as a secretary for a Naval Admiral in San Diego. Later, she later held positions as legal secretary and retail sales clerk, although for most of her life her role as mother was her top priority. She was of the generation where secretaries were required to take short hand and often used it to keep her children from prying which frustrated them to no end.

Her Norwegian heritage was important to her and Ardis worked to preserve it. For many years she belonged to the Sons of Norway and participated in numerous functions. Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner included sot suppe, and Swedish meatballs (which we called Norwegian meatballs), finishing with an assortment of homemade Norwegian cookies. The recipes were passed down from her mother to her, and now Ardis' great-grandchildren continue the tradition.

Ardis lived in Tulsa, Okla., for much of her adult life where she and her family were members of Grace Lutheran Church and, later, Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church. She also lived in Corvallis, Ore., Aurora, Colo., and Vancouver, Wash., belonging to Lutheran churches in those communities.

Ardis is survived by her children, Adele (Healey), Kris, Eleen, and Karen; five grandchildren, Ryan Healey, Marleen Healey Carroll, Kristin Wentworth, Laura Beth Baumann and Katharine Baumann-Mitchell as well as four great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her parents and her husband, Walter G. Baumann.