LaVonne "Freddie" Fliss

LaVonne "Freddie" Fliss passed away on June 8, 2025 in Bloomington, MN. LaVonne Angeline Fredlund, affectionately known as Freddie, was born on April 18, 1932 to Walter and Olga (Liden) Fredlund in Canby, MN. She was raised on the family farm and graduated from Canby High School in 1950. It was there that she met Lee Fliss when he asked her to the Junior/Senior Dance. She said she knew that night that he was the one. They dated while she was attending college at Gustavus Adolphus and she graduated from Bethesda School of Nursing as an RN in May 1953.
Mom and Dad were married on October 30, 1952 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mason City, IA. They subsequently moved to New York while Dad was in the Army and Mom worked at the Marine Hospital on Staten Island, NY. It was there that Laurie was born in 1954. After moving back to Richfield, MN, Sheri was born in 1955 and Kim in 1959. They moved to Bloomington, MN in 1960 and purchased a cabin on Lake Minnewaska in 1966. M&D were married for 57 years until his death in 2009.
Mom worked for War Memorial Blood Bank in Minneapolis for 32 years. She was Head Nurse of Bloodmobiles and she and Dad designed the first bloodmobile bus. She also worked as a school nurse in Bloomington, MN for several years. After retirement in 1986, she became a hospice nurse in Glenwood/Starbuck, MN.
In 1986, Mom and Dad moved to their lake home on Lake Minnewaska and became snowbirds in Fort Walton Beach, FL. After Dad died Mom moved back to Bloomington in 2009 to "be near her girls" but continued to winter in Florida until 2018 as she dearly loved her friends there.
Never one to sit still for very long, she enjoyed volunteering at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Bloomington, MN and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Mom loved people and when she moved to Bloomington, she started the Friday cocktail hour at her condo building. It was a great way to get to know her neighbors. Over the last several years, she estimated that she had crocheted over 50 afghans for family and friends and beanie hats for newborns. Mom loved dancing and music. She played the trombone in the high school band as well as piano, organ and accordian. She played the organ every day. Most of all she loved being a wife to a wonderful husband, a mother to three beautiful daughters and the years of lake living and snowbirding.
In early February 2025, Mom was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. She decided against any further tests or treatment. She wanted to "live out whatever days she had left in her own home and on her own terms."
We would like to thank FirstLight Home Care, especially her caregiver Litra, for her compassionate and tender care. Litra added a lot to Mom's life and we are forever grateful to her. Thank you also to Allina Hospice and Sisters in Harmony for their excellent care.
Preceded in death by husband Lee Fliss; daughter Sheri Luhring, sons in law Russ Luhring and Mike Schumann; and parents Walter & Olga Fredlund, brother Wilford Fredlund, sister Eleanor Fredlund and in laws Harold & Ethel Fliss.
Left behind to miss her and wish her well on her new journey are daughters Laurie (Dan) Dunnigan and Kimberly (Steve) Livingston.
Private inurnment at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery at a later date. Memorials preferred to St. Stephen Lutheran Church (Bloomington, MN), Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (Ft. Walton Beach, FL), the ASPCA, Animal Humane Society or your local animal shelter or rescue, St. Jude’s or Shriners Hospital.
Mom's last wishes were that we not mourn but celebrate her life. And so we will with a Celebration of Life Reception on Friday, June 13, 2025 from 3:00 to 5:00 at Washburn-McReavy Bloomington Chapel, 2300 W Old Shakopee Rd, Bloomington, MN 55431.