Carol M. Hed, 84, of Eden Prairie

Carol Hed, 84, of Eden Prairie, died Jan. 13, 2016, in the presence of her daughters and devoted care providers.

 

A celebration of her life will be held Thursday, Jan. 28, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chanhassen.

 

Carol M. (Mattfield) Hed was born in St. Paul and later moved with her family to their farm in Glencoe. While growing up, she helped on the farm and enjoyed hunting and fishing with her father. She attended a one-room grade school and later graduated from Glencoe High School, where she was class president, on the debate team, a majorette and a Model UN participant. She was the first girl from her school to attend Girls State. She was a runner-up for Miss Glencoe in 1950.

 

After high school, she attended the University of Minnesota, pledged Kappa Delta and worked at the Twin Cities Armory. Shortly after college, she married and moved to Hannibal, Missouri, then moved back to her parents and had her first child while her husband was in Korea. They later moved to St. Louis Park, where she was active in school events for her oldest daughter. A few years later, they built their home on Lake Minnewashta in Chaska, where they raised their four children.

 

Once their youngest child entered school, Mrs. Hed was eager to work outside the home. She worked her way up from receptionist to building manager at the Peavy Company in Chaska. Later she became a salesperson and then an account executive for Instant Web printing in Chanhassen. She enjoyed working and reluctantly retired in her early 60s.

 

Nicknamed the “Energizer Bunny” by many, she was always busy. She and her sister Gloria would pack the station wagon full of kids and skis for long ski weekends that will never be forgotten by anyone who was fortunate enough to ski with her. When she wasn’t skiing, she was entertaining at the lake or helping with the 4-H Club. She was a smart bridge player and a talented seamstress, making most of her beautiful clothes, including gorgeous coats. In addition, she was a culinary wizard and made monthly meals from Gourmet magazine. Her children remember watching her on television at their grandparents’ farm when she was in the Mrs. Minnesota contest. Of course, she won Mrs. Congeniality — she was always friendly and social to everyone. She also won hot dogs, Spam and bacon for a year for being the best cook.

 

After her first trip out west as a young woman with her dad, she caught the travel bug that lasted her whole life. Mrs. Hed visited every continent except Antarctica, and was still traveling internationally as recently as six years ago. Her fondest memories were to see her family in Vietnam, Turkey, Capetown, Singapore, Australia, Italy, England and Switzerland, and her adventures with her sister to India.

As a child, she had polio, which gave her a lifelong strength to endure challenges including, at the end of her life, the ability to stay positive while living with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Even as the disease robbed her of her abilities to talk, walk, see and other everyday life activities, she would still join in social activities at The Colony, where she lived in her last year. She was an inspiration for many and continues to inspire all who were blessed to know her.

 

She is survived by her children, Susan (John) Doty, Sonja (Mark) Brown, Alan (Lan) Hed and Bryan (Lynn) Hed; her sister, Gloria Klaustermeier; and her grandchildren, Maddie, Forrest, Harrison, Brady, Cory, Austin, Berit and Ethan.

 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Rutherford and Anita (Mackenthun) Mattfield; son, Douglas; and husband, Arnold W. Hed.

 

Memorials may be made to the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Foundation (www.psp.org/donate/tribute-gifts.html).