Hilda L. Malmquist

Hilda L. (Stellrecht) Malmquist was born on May 15, 1906, and grew up on her folksí family farm in rural Burnett County, west of Spooner, Wisc. As a young child, she used to walk a mile, with her older sister, Pearl, to a small rural school. Until her death, Hilda was always proud of the wonderful family life that she experienced while growing up on a farm. Her family produced most of their food needs, and had great companionship with many siblings and cousins who lived nearby. She loved the rich natural setting of rural living, which provided the beauty of flowers and wildlife. In 1914, few students attended high school, but she and her sister, Pearl, became two of the first three Rusk Township students to attend high school. It meant that the young girls had to move into Spooner and set up housekeeping. For her senior year, Hilda enrolled in a ìTeachersí Training Course,î which was available for the best students under Wisconsin laws at the time.
In 1924, at age 18 years, she graduated from high school and teachers training, and began a 3-year career teaching 1st to 8th grades in rural schools. She taught in schools north of Trego and near Shell Lake, Wisc. She received $90 per month, but had to stay in a log home of a school board member, and return $20 a month for room and board. She disliked climbing the ladder to get to her upstairs room, and was scared when the wolves howled as she walked the woodland trail from the school to the home.
In 1927, Hilda was hired by the State of Wisconsin as an attendant in a home for mentally retarded and delinquent girls in Chippewa Falls. Also in that year, she learned of a new profession called ìmedical technology.î Shortly after driving down to investigate the program in the fall of 1927, she enrolled at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisc. and worked under a pathologist examining tissue and tumor specimens, and performing other medical identification work. Her training was completed after three years, which included courses in chemistry, shorthand, typing and bacteriology. She passed her registry exam in Indiana and received her certificate in 1930. Selected from thirty applicants, she received her first job at Macon County Hospital in Decatur, Illinois. There, she worked under pathologist Dr. M. Bohrod, doing extensive blood work and analysis. In 1933, she bought her first car, and Essex named ìDaisy,î and traveled extensively around Wisconsin and Illinois.
In 1932-3, an outbreak of amoebic dysentery occurred at the Worldís Fair in Chicago among people who stayed at the Congress Hotel. After attending the Fair herself, she was later asked to identify the parasitic infection in many people who had attended the Fair, and spread the disease back to their home areas in Eau Claire and Grantsburg. With the Great Depression, Hilda was laid off in 1933 by the hospital administrator, who was later fired for embezzlement. Banks closed everywhere, and she and her family lost most of their savings. In 1934, she took a technologist position under Dr. E. Johnson at the Grantsburg Community Hospital for $40 a month. Within a year, the doctor died suddenly, and she lost that job. Sadly, about the same time, she was asked to diagnose sputum samples from her own Mother and discovered tuberculosis bacilli. However, she also met her future husband, Vincent Malmquist, who was working as an undertaker in Grantsburg, Wisc. Vinceís father was a minister in Grantsburg at the time. In 1935, her Mother went to a sanatorium and she accepted another technology position for two years at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisc.
Meanwhile, Vincent Malmquist had moved to North Branch and purchased the old Congregational Church and parsonage dating from 1883, for his mortuary business. Vince and Hilda were married on Jan. 1, 1937. Hilda continued her part-time medical technology work, while helping extensively with their mortuary and ambulance business in North Branch. In 1969, the couple retired to a home on the North Branch river.
Hilda grew up as a Lutheran, and joined Trinity Lutheran Church of North Branch in 1936. Both Hilda and Vincent, dedicated more than fifty years of service to many church, scout, lodge, civic, village, and other community organizations in North Branch, including starting a village ambulance service. Hilda, was probably best known for her artistic dried and silk flower arrangements. Creating thousands over nearly seventy years, her artwork never diminished, even as she approached 97 years of age. She saw and created beauty in places and ways, which few others could notice or emulate. Hilda passed away in Wyoming on May 31, 2003 at age 97.
Hilda, was preceded in death by her husband, Vincent, parents Christian and Luise Stellrecht, brothers Roy, Ervin, Robert and Percy Stellrecht, sisters Adeline Jorgensen and Pearl Walker. She is survived by son, Max, brother Milton (Rachelle) Stellrecht, and many beloved nieces, nephews and close friends. She always appreciated and cherished those relationships, and daily tried to thank those who bestowed their friendship.
Services are scheduled at Trinity Lutheran church and burial at Trinity Cemetery in North Branch on June 5, 2003. All memorials are to be sent to the church. Arrangements by Olson Funeral Chapel of Rush City.

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