Coral Fern Aaberg Rude Fyall, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, “went to her eternal heavenly home” on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, at the Brendan House, surrounded by family and friends.
Coral was born Oct. 7, 1926, in Devils Lake, North Dakota, to Carl and Florence (Hassett) Aaberg.
She graduated from Devils Lake High School in 1944. While in high school she excelled in speech and drama, as well as competed in and won dance competitions with her brother Amos. She was a cheerleader and on a winning state woman’s basketball team. After graduation from high school she attended North Dakota State University, then transferred to Valley City Teachers College, in Valley City, North Dakota. After graduation she taught school in a rural North Dakota two-room school house for four years. She often told stories of being snow-bound in the school teacherage below the school for days.
In 1948 Coral took a summer job in Chester, Montana, working for her brother Larry. While living in Chester that summer, she met the love of her life, Elmer Rude. The two were married on June 18, 1949. They were active members of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. Together they owned and operated Rude Sheet Metal. Coral was known to love a good game of pinochle, loved to dance, golf, travel and bowl. She once bowled a 300 game, receiving a trophy to prove it. Coral was a Cub Scout den mother for a number of years.
To this marriage was born Neoma (Phil) Anderson of Kalispell, Craig (Wanda) Rude of Great Falls, and Renae Solum of Kalispell.
After Elmer passed away in 1970, Coral continued to run Rude Sheet Metal until 1974 when she moved to Conrad. While there, she worked at Berg’s Greenhouse as a gardener and floral designer. In 1981 she married David Fyall of Seattle. They lived in Seattle, then Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, finally settling in Kalispell to be near family. Dave passed away in 1999. When the new Walmart opened in Kalispell, Coral went to work there. She loved her retirement job immensely and the friends she made there. She attended Christian Center Church and Bible Study Fellowship.
Coral is survived by her three children, six grandchildren, Erik and Corala Anderson, Kate and Matt Wilhelm, Kari and Dan Robertson, Ryan and Amy and Sonya Solum; four great-grandchildren, Stella Audrey Gordon, Tylee Rose Wilhelm, Arick Thorvald Anderson and Boone Kenneth Solum; her sister, Annabelle Fransen; brother-in-law Al Ploss; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by husbands, Elmer Rude and David Fyall; infant daughter, Florence Annie Rude; parents, Carl and Florence Aaberg; son-in-law, Kenneth Solum; brothers, Larry and Amos; and sisters, Dorothy and Caroline.
Memorial services will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 24, at Hope Church, 436 Birch Grove Road in Kalispell; and in Chester at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 28.