Selma "Sally" Thorstenson Mcculloch

Selma "Sally" L. Thorstenson McCulloch, 95, of Gastonia, NC, went home to be with her Lord Jesus on Tuesday, April 8, 2014. Memorial services will be Sunday, July 27th at 1:30 PM at Old West Paint Creek Lutheran Church in rural Waukon, IA, with Pastor Al Hermeier officiating. Burial will be at the church cemetery. Friends may greet the family following the services. Martin Funeral Home in Waukon is handling the arrangements.

Selma "Sally" Luella Thorstenson McCulloch was born November 21, 1918, the daughter of Edward and Ida (Gjefle) Thorstenson. She was one of nine children raised on the Coonamen farm in Benson County, ND. Sally had a passion at a young age to become a registered nurse and graduated in 1944 from Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago, IL. Up to her dying day she had a need to heal others. Known for her quick wit and Norwegian temperament, she was loved by all who met her. Sally's life took her from nursing on the Santa Fe Railroad to surgical nursing and finally to private duty nursing.

She married E.R. McColloch, and was a mother to Allen McCulloch of Kansas City, MO, and Cheryl (Donald) Rhoades of Gastonia, NC; a grandmother to Eugene, Sean, and Kent McCulloch, and Ryan and Amelia MacDonald; and a great-grandmother to Madisyn and Emma Becker. For the past 30 years, Sally took care of and loved deeply, Louis W. Benecke of Brunswick, MO.

Sally is survived by her immediate family; her brother Otto Thorstenson of Waukon, IA; her sister Stella Karges of Fargo, ND; along with many nieces and nephews and their families.

She was preceded in death by her parents; four brothers: Alvin, Ingvald, Floyd, and Eilert; and two sisters: Geneva Thorstenson and Wilma Knudson.