Mary Lou Harpstead

Mary Lou (Sorbel) Harpstead, age 96, passed into eternal life on April 5, 2023. Visitation will be held at Gorsline Runciman East Lansing from 5-7 PM on April 14, 2023, with funeral service held at University Lutheran Church in East Lansing, Michigan on April 15, 2023.

Mary Lou, born February 14, 1927, in Sisseton, South Dakota, was the second oldest of seven children born to Evelyn and George Sorbel. Mary was baptized, and confirmed her faith at Wilmot Lutheran Church in South Dakota. She attended Wilmot Public schools, graduating in 1945. She left Wilmot to attend Swedish Hospital’s RN nursing program in Minneapolis. With her RN degree in hand Mary Lou married her husband Dale Harpstead, in Wilmot on September 12, 1948. Mary worked as a nurse in hospitals in Brookings SD, Lincoln NE and held the position of Campus Nurse at SDSU. As a life-long registered nurse she cared for patients, friends and many others in need; including serving as a private nurse to the expat community in Bogota, Colombia during the eight years living and raising her family there with Dale.

For the past 54 years she has been engaged in the East Lansing community attending many Lansing Orchestra and Wharton Center events. As a long-time member of the University Lutheran Church, Mary sang in the choir and at MSU served with Community Volunteers for International Programs. She loved opening her home for Smorgasbord gatherings for the choir, MSU Crop and Soil Science faculty, and family parties. Mary was an avid MSU basketball fan and planned her weekly activities to not miss listening to or watching the games. She enjoyed traveling to five continents with Dale, but mostly she cherished spending summer months at her cabin on Pelican Lake in Minnesota, which had become a home-away-from-home while the family lived in Colombia.

Mary became an accomplished artist painting on porcelain which she then fired in her own kiln. Each of her children have a beloved ceramic crèche for which she lovingly painted all the figures and animals. Mary also took charge of painting the wooden birds that Dale carved.

As an outstanding and loving mother, she created a comfortable home for all of us in four states and two foreign countries. After a fall in her driveway in February of 2022 Mary’s mobility decreased and her body finally failed her.

Mary is survived by her husband, of 74 years, Dale Harpstead and sons; Daniel (Sharon) Harpstead, Stanley (Jodi) Harpstead, Philip (Gail) Harpstead, Thomas (Claudia) Vergara-Harpstead, and daughter Elizabeth Walch. She is survived by 15 grandchildren, many of whom she taught to make lefse, and 21 great-grandchildren. She loved holding the babies when any of them came to visit. She is also survived by her sister Dorothy Nielsen and brother Herbert Sorbel. She was preceded in death by four siblings; Donald Sorbel (killed in WWII), Shirley Grinde, Evelyn Boyer and Eleanor Brodersen.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be given to Wilmot Lutheran Church, Wilmot, SD or University Lutheran Church, East Lansing, MI.