*Orville E. Nysted, a long-time resident of Colfax, Wis., left this earth for his Heavenly home on Aug. 3, 2014. Orville Edward Nysted was born on Nov. 10, 1925, in Bessemer, Mich., to Peter and Tilla Nysted. When he was five years old, the Nysted family moved to Loyal, Wis., and he grew up there. A member of the graduation class of 1944, he cut high school short by enlisting in the U.S. Navy as soon as his 17th birthday in l943. Unique to the patriotic days of World War II, his graduation diploma was presented to his mother at the 1944 graduation ceremony as his other classmates received theirs.

During his three-year term in the Navy, he took his “boot” training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center and then served at the U.S. Naval Hospital at Great Lakes. His next service was aboard the USS Hornet, but he was reassigned to the COMSERPAC at Pearl Harbor. He served there until he had nearly enough points to qualify for discharge and was assigned to the USS Pocomoke, a seaplane tender. Once the Pocomoke was “mothballed” at the Naval Yards in Philadelphia, he was returned to Great Lakes for discharge.

In the fall of 1946, he began his college years at St. Olaf College. As a junior at St. Olaf he met and fell in love with Mildred J. Nysted, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Lee Holmes, and they married the following summer. On graduation from St. Olaf, they moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where he had a job with the Home Insurance Company in their crop insurance department. With the beginning of the Korean War, being a Naval Reservist, he was recalled for active service in the Navy. In 1952, he received his second Honorable Discharge and immediately moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he had registered at the University of Iowa to work on his master’s degree in education.

In 1953, a job offer from the Home Insurance Company persuaded him to return to the crop insurance business, this time as a Special Agent working out of Minneapolis. Two years later, he was offered a job by Anchor Casualty Company to establish a crop insurance department for them. He enjoyed the challenges of starting a new business for them.

In 1964, he and wife Millie purchased and moved his family to a farm near Colfax. He continued to commute to his office in St. Paul, Minn. As the result of a merger in the company he worked for, Orville was able to purchase the crop insurance department he had built and managed for many years, and he organized “North Central Crop Insurance Company”. In 1978, he moved the company to Eau Claire, Wis., so he could be closer to the farm. He declared that the 14-year, 82-mile commute to St. Paul had at least proved that he was a determined, stubborn Norwegian. North Central Crop Insurance had become a substantial crop insurer, doing business in five local states.

Orville’s position in the crop insurance industry extended beyond just running his own company and included executive positions in the three major national crop insurance organizations. These were the organizations that coordinated efforts to properly establish premiums, properly pay claims, and improve the multi-peril insurance program. He was also a member of an international crop insurance organization, which included congresses in England, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Italy.

He also joined with 11 other crop insurance executives in a State Department-sanctioned trip to Japan and China to discuss crop insurance with interested people in those countries. Mike Mansfield was then the Ambassador to Japan and he set up a meeting with the crop insurance people in Tokyo. In Beijing, China, they met with Chinese statisticians who had preserved data from their work thru the turmoil of the Mao Tse Tung era.

Both he and Millie enjoyed their many travels to Europe and even the Far East. Orville retired in 1989 and he and Millie got involved in “RVing”. With 5th wheel trailers and motor homes, they traveled most of the great USA. Escaping the cold Wisconsin winters became part of their “Snowbird” lifestyle throughout the past many years.

Orville was a member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the United Methodist Churches in Colfax and Sun Lakes, Ariz. He loved to sing and was a frequent soloist. He was a charter member of the Dunn County Barbershop Chorus and sang with the Desert Chordsmen Barbershop Chorus in Sun Lakes. He loved to garden and both his home in Arizona and his farm home were accented with flowers.

Orville was an outspoken Christian and could recite examples of where God in his life had taken him by the hand and directed him through problems and opportunities. He strove to lead a life that would please the Lord. His faith assured him that Jesus had already paid the price to provide him a place in one of those mansions in Heaven for eternity.

Those Orville leaves behind include his children, Kathleen Holling and husband David, and David Nysted and wife Bonnie; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; three sisters, Mary Nysted, Jeanne Dahlby, and Wanda Auth; one brother, Leonard Nysted ’51; and nieces and nephews, including Lee Nysted ’75.

Orville was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Millie; his parents, Peter and Tilla Nysted; one brother, Julius Nysted; and three sisters, Margaret Noeldner, Pearl Ursin, and Violet Finet.

Any memorials can be directed to the Colfax United Methodist Church or Hospice of the Valley in Phoenix.