Mrs. Lydia Emmagene Schaller Arneson

Lydia Emmagene Schaller Arneson of Albany, Georgia, passed away on March 11, 2017, at Wynfield Park. Graveside services will be held at 11 AM on Tuesday, March 14, at Crown Hill Cemetery. Officiating will be Pastor Charles Thompson. Interment will follow at Crown Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be held at Kimbrell-Stern Funeral Home from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Monday, March 13. Lydia was born October 26, 1917, in Holmen, Wisconsin to Frank and Edna Anderson Schaller. She grew up in Onalaska, Wisconsin. She graduated from Onalaska High School and attended what was then called LaCrosse Teachers College. She married Major Arneson on October 8, 1938. In 1940 they moved to Albany, Georgia, where they reopened Radium Springs and Golf Course. It had been closed for several years. Mrs. Arneson was a charter member of Our Saviour Lutheran Church. She was a member of the Lutheran Church Women, and was the first woman to serve on the church council. She taught Sunday School for ten years and served as church secretary and as an assisting minister. She worked ten years for the Railway Express, and later at several resorts in Florida and Minnesota. She also served as president of Broad Avenue School Parent Teachers, the PTA council of Albany, and the Eugemar Garden Club. Mrs. Arneson was preceded in death by her husband, Major Arneson, of Albany; her son, Stephen Arneson of Leesburg; her sisters, Helen Allen, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Dorothy Houser of West Salem, Wisconsin; her brother Vincent Schaller and his wife Kathryn, both of Onalaska, Wisconsin; and her brother, Raymond Schaller of Onalaska, Wisconsin. Survivors include her daughter, Carolyn and Steven Purrier of Albany; her daughter-in-law Joann Arneson of Leesburg; her two granddaughters, Kimberly Purrier of Albany; and Jennifer and Kevin Johnson, of Hawkinsville. Also surviving are three great-granddaughters, Abigail, Rebecca, and Kaitlyn Johnson of Hawkinsville. Other survivors are her brother, Frank Schaller, of Ames, Iowa; and several nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Life Center at 1117 Perimeter Center West, Suite E11, Atlanta, GA 30338; the Albany Humane Society at 1705 West Oakridge Drive, Albany, GA 31707; or the Sally Wetherbee Adoption Center at 2223 Dawson Road, Albany, GA 31707.

Mrs. Lydia Emmagene Schaller Arneson

October 26, 1917 - March 11, 2017