Alice Steilow

Alice Stielow, 94, of Clinton, MN, passed away on Friday, February 6, 2026, at Fairway View Neighborhoods in Ortonville, MN. 

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 12, 2026, at Elim Free Lutheran Church in Clinton, MN. Pastor Richard Larson will officiate. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Mundwiler and Larson Funeral Home in Ortonville, MN, and will close with a prayer service at 7:00 p.m. Burial will be held at Clinton City Cemetery. 

Alice Lucille (Nilson) Stielow was born on May 20, 1931, on a farm southeast of Graceville to her parents Victor and Elin (Johnson) Nilson. She was baptized and confirmed at Elim Lutheran Church in Clinton. She grew up with nine brothers and sisters. Being the third-oldest child, there was always work to do on the farm, whether it was helping take care of the younger babies or working outside doing chores. She and her sister, Francis, milked 28 cows twice a day before they were even teenagers. In between chores, there were also plenty of shenanigans going on, like gliding on a pulley from the haymow to the windmill, playing hide and seek in the fresh cut hay in the barn, and swinging from tree to tree in the grove. Of course, these things only happened “when Mother and Daddy had gone to town.”

Alice started school at the local country school just a mile down the road from their home. During the winter, her dad hitched up the team and sleigh and took the children to school, stopping to pick up neighbor kids along the way. When she was in 8th grade, she started “town school” in Graceville. During the time she went to town school, she worked at the local hotel, and she later went on to earn her GED.

In June of 1945, she met the man she said she was going to marry. This came true on February 16, 1948, when Alice married Richard Alan Stielow. They honeymooned in Fargo, ND, and were stranded for a few extra days because of a blizzard. They ended up staying with family as they made their way home. They were blessed with six children: Becky, Diane, Nancy, Douglas, Sally, and Heidi. They lived together on the same farm and in the same house for almost 78 years, adding on to it several times to accommodate their growing family. Alice was a hard-working farm wife. She had a huge vegetable garden, and the bounty ended up either on the table or canned for the winter months. The strawberry patch produced enough that the excess berries were sold to people driving by. There was always freshly baked bread on Saturdays and a cookie jar full of cookies waiting for when the kids got off the school bus, and some days the smell of fresh doughnuts greeted the kids coming home from school. She truly was a great cook. Alice also grew beautiful flowers in her many flower beds, always giving bouquets away. Sometimes a bug or two went along. Alice was an artist; she painted wonderful landscapes. She sewed most of the kids’ clothes until they were old enough to make their own, making sure they all knew how to use a sewing machine. She did many different crafts in her spare time, most recently making one-of-a-kind greeting cards that she sent to all her kids and grandkids on their birthdays. She also embroidered dish towels and hand towels with crocheted edging and has given hundreds away over the years. She was a writer and storyteller. If you were lucky, she would tell you a story about her adventures growing up and of being a wife and mother.

After her youngest daughter started school, Alice went to town to work. She was instrumental in getting the Day Activity Center, now called Main Street Industries, started in Clinton where she worked until she retired. Along the way, she also worked at Pamida in Ortonville and was always a hard-working farm wife. She always talked about the first thing she purchased after going to work – a dishwasher. She was a 4-H leader for many years, sharing her sewing, crafting and cooking talents with many youths, and was a Sunday School teacher while her children were growing up.

Alice and Dick were foster parents for over 40 years to over 100 children: the youngest being a baby just a few days old, all the way to young adults, many of whom still stay in touch today. Alice was one of the founding members of the Women of the Moose in 1989. She held several offices and was the birthday card sender for many years for both the Women of the Moose and the Lodge members. She also served many years on the Big Stone County Family Services board and was a dedicated food shelf volunteer.

Alice passed away on February 6, 2026, at Fairway View Neighborhood in Ortonville, Minnesota, after a short stay. She reached the age of 94 years, 8 months and 17 days.

Left to cherish her memory are her husband of nearly 78 years, Richard of Clinton, MN; her children: Becky Radford of Lakeville, MN; Diane Hills of Beardsley, MN; Nancy (Don) Stallman of St. Augusta, MN; Douglas (Jodi) Stielow of Clinton, MN; Sally (Chuck) Petersen of Dawson, MN; and Heidi Torgerson of Clinton, MN; 23 grandchildren; 69 great-grandchildren; 10 great-great grandchildren; sister, Betty Tate of Burnsville, MN; sister-in-law, Ruth Ann Nilson of Hillsboro, MO; brother-in-law, James (Ann) Drewelow of Fergus Falls, MN; hundreds of nieces, nephews, and extended family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents: Victor and Elin (Johnson) Nilson; mother-in-law and father-in-law: Anna May (Jacobson) and John Stielow; sons-in-law: Bernie Wollschlager and Eric Torgerson; grandchildren: Joshua, Brian, Amy, Tiffany and David; sisters: Dolores (Richard) Mauch, Francis Cota Schultz, Sonja (Frank) Watkins, and LoRene Drewelow; and brothers: Carl, William (Verna), David and John