Marvin A. Welander, 81, of Fremont went peacefully to be with his Lord in his heavenly home at Fremont Area Medical Center on Friday, Dec. 25, 2009.

He was born on Aug. 22, 1928, in Lamoure, N.D., to Alfred and Ethel (Thompson) Welander. He was a 55-year member of First Lutheran Church.

Marv grew up on a farm in North Dakota. In November 1946, he married Annabelle Skovgaard. He entered the U.W. Army in 1946 and served in Japan until 1948. They had three children and later divorced. He moved with his family to Nebraska in 1952 to work at the Mead Ordnance Plant and took up house painting with his brother in Colon. He did various other work before finding his niche in the sand and gravel business. He met and formed a special relationship with the Paul and Marcella Christensen family, working for Paul at Christensen Sand & Gravel which later became Hartford Sand & Gravel and finally Lyman-Richey Sand & Gravel. His expertise was running a front end loader. Marv retire in 1996 and spent most of his retired years on Christensen Lake which was fondly called “Marv’s Lake” and is now the YMCA Camp.

He also enjoyed raising and selling his sweet corn and meeting with all the friends who came by it. His pride and joy was his Ford tractor and mower which he drove all over doing commercial mowing.

Marv married Jackie Walther on Dec. 19, 1986. She survives.

Other survivors include his two sons, Rod Welander (and wife, Carolyn) and Darrell Welander (and wife, Annette), all of Fremont; a daughter, Sharon Miley of Omaha; stepdaughter, Brenda Schmidt (and husband, Bruce) of Arlington; seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He also has a twin sister, Muriel Keller (and husband, Pete) of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and will be missed by many nieces and nephews and their families.

The funeral will be 3 p.m. Wednesday at First Lutheran Church in Fremont with the Rev. Charlie Axness officiating. Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. Tuesday at Dugan Funeral Chapel in Fremont with family present from 6-8 p.m.

A memorial has been established to First Lutheran Church. Condolences may be left at www. dugan-chapel.com.