Helen Holden Anderson, founder of Eden Prairie Historical Society and Sunbonnet Day, dies at 98

By Karla Wennerstrom

Helen Holden Anderson wasn’t born in Eden Prairie – she said she married into it. Although she didn’t grow up here, she became an authority on the community and founded its Historical Society.

Anderson died Oct. 13 at age 98. Services are planned at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at Eden Prairie Presbyterian Church, 9145 Eden Prairie Road in Eden Prairie. Visitation is one hour prior to the service.

Anderson’s son, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson, remembered her as a classy, curious, humble, strong and intelligent lady.

He said that one of his favorite memories of his mother was her reaction when he and his wife adopted a child.

“When you bring an adopted child in the family you wonder how they’ll be accepted,” he said. “From moment one, my mother just embraced my daughter. What a gift. I remember what a wonderful, loving grandmother she was to my children. I’m so fortunate that they had a time to get to know their grandmother like that.”

Anderson was born in Aitkin, Minn., on July 23, 1911, to Gerta and Nels Holden.

She was pursuing her teaching degree at St. Cloud State Teachers College when she was introduced to her roommate’s brother, Calvin Anderson.

Paul Anderson said the story is that there was a dance in St. Cloud, but there was a shortage of men. Her roommate said her brother could bring some men up from Eden Prairie.

“My father and two or three of his friends drove up to St. Cloud for the dance,” Anderson said. But when they got there, they found out that ties were required.

“Back then, the Texaco service attendants used to wear bow ties,” Anderson said. So the men went to Texaco, got ties and went to the dance.

Helen was hired to teach elementary school in Eden Prairie. She taught in Eden Prairie for a few years. When she asked for a raise from $80 to $85 per month, and didn’t get it, she went to work in Robbinsdale for $125 a month.

“She said that my father was diligent in his pursuit and they wound up getting married,” Paul Anderson said. On July 6, 1939, she married Calvin and they lived on land passed down in the Anderson family. They raised their family in Eden Prairie and remained active in community affairs throughout their lives.

“I remember the love that she and my father had for each other and I’m grateful that they both lived long enough to discover fully how much they loved each other,” Paul Anderson said.

“She embraced every moment of life while she was here,” he said. “She fought hard to maintain her independence up until the last possible moment.”

Anderson said she kept up with what was going on in the world. When she lost most of her vision, she would get books on tape.

“She still had a mind that was absolutely as sharp as could be,” Paul Anderson said.

He said that over the last few months, “she just was giving so many nice reflections.

“I would sit there and I’d just prime the pump. I would throw out a family name or some event.” And she talked about history, growing up, Eden Prairie and people she’d known.

Making history

Longtime Historical Society member Marie Wittenberg said Anderson started the Historical Society 40 years ago, in 1969, and worked to include representatives of all the groups living in Eden Prairie at the time.

She planned the city’s first Sunbonnet Day at the old Truman Brown farm, Paul Anderson said. “She’s so much a believer in history and she instilled that in me, of course,” he said.

Thirty years ago, Helen Holden Anderson’s book “Eden Prairie: The First 100 Years,” was published. The book is being re-issued after the city celebrated its 150th last year.

“It’s like the Historical Society’s Bible, we refer to it all the time,” Historical Society President Kathie Case said. “It’s just an incredible reference book.

“I never thought I was doing much, but I had pleasure [writing the book], and I’m glad it’s a help to others,” Helen Anderson told Renee Stewart in an interview for the Eden Prairie News last year. “People like to know something about the area they live in, and I’m so happy they have something to go by.”

“It’s so important to keep records,” Helen Anderson said last year. Stewart wrote, “Helen culled stories and information for the book from personal interviews, historical documents and plenty of tenacious digging.”

“She met with the people and gathered their stories and wrote it down. You just can’t get that back when they’re gone,” Case said.
“She had gumption,” Case said. “She would actually meet with people and ask for their stories and ask for their stuff.

“I will still get phone calls from people that will say, ‘Helen Anderson asked my mother for this butter churn,’” Case said. “That really speaks highly of how people felt about her.”

Wittenberg said the Andersons were one of the first families to settle in Eden Prairie in the 1850s.

“At that time, they named the lakes and the streets after these old settlers,” thus names like Anderson Lakes and Anderson Lakes Parkway.
“Eden Prairie just really had a place in her heart,” Case said.
She was a founding member of the Eden Prairie Lioness Club, active member of the Eden Prairie Foundation, member of the Eden Prairie Woman’s Club, member of the Ida McKinley Chapter of the Eastern Star and active at Eden Prairie Presbyterian Church.

At the church, she served as superintendent of the Sunday School, played piano and sang in the choir for a time. Calvin was chair of the building committee, when they built a new church in 1958, and she was also active in that effort.

“She was really very interested in it still,” Wittenberg said of local history. “She was interested to know how things were going at the Historical Society.”

“The historical society is so grateful for her years of service and her continued care throughout her lifetime. And we hope that we can measure up to her good works,” Case said.

“She was one great lady,” Wittenberg said.

Anderson was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Calvin; grandchild, Marina Anderson and son-in-law Dr. Robert D. Bland. She is survived by her children, Dr. Mary Ellen Bland and Justice Paul H. Anderson; three grandchildren, Cynthia Bland, Isa (Yovanna) Anderson, Stephanie Bland Ezerman (Alex) and great-granddaughter Alena Ezerman.

Memorials are directed to the Minnesota State Services for the Blind, Eden Prairie Presbyterian Church or the Eden Prairie Historical Society, according to her obituary notice.

A click away
Click here for a link to Renee Stewart’s interview with Helen Anderson from last year, when the city of Eden Prairie celebrated its 150th: http://www.edenprairienews.com/news/deaths/archives-getting-know-eden-pr...

“One can never fully come away from the land and the physical and spiritual experiences of childhood. Neither can one go back in time or space, but if we are lucky and wise, we can use the things we’ve learned to help understand what we’ve become and why.”
– Helen Holden Anderson
from “Eden Prairie: The First 100 Years”

“We live in the present, but also in the past and the future. The past is simply a stepping stone to the future. We cannot ignore or separate ourselves from its importance, for without the remembrance of the past, there is little appreciation of things today.”
– Helen Holden Anderson
from “Eden Prairie: The First 100 Years”