Funeral services will be Wednesday, August 21 at 11 am at the United Church of Christ, New Ulm.

Visitation will be Tuesday, August 20 from 4 – 7 pm at the Minnesota Valley Funeral Home South Chapel and from 10 am to 11 am on Wednesday at United Church of Christ.

To leave an online condolence for the family, or to sign the guestbook, please visit: www.mvfh.org.

Velma is survived by daughters Sonja (Tom) Leske of New Ulm, Sharon (Ron) Frederickson of Hanska and son Steven Harder of New Ulm, daughter-in-law Susan Harder of St. George, grandchildren Jody Meidl, Jamie Leske, Kevin, Melissa and Dawn Paa, Tammy and Theresa Harder. Step children MaryAnn (Woody) Schemmel of New London, Deb (Dave) Kohout of Glencoe, Lisa (Scott) Hagen of Redwood Falls, Arnie Jr. (Cathy) Schweiss of Toedo, OH and Mike (Debbie) Schweiss of San Antonio, TX, 15 great grand children, 8 great great grand children, sister Nancy Diederich of Broomfield, CO and brother Nathan Hale of Winona.

She was preceded in death by first husband, Wayland Harder, second husband Arnold (Arnie) Schweiss, son Wayne Harder, great grandson Jacob Schaefer, sisters Opal Hyde and Betty Hale; brothers Joseph, Harvey and Robert Hale, sister-in-law Eunice Hale and brother-in-law Paul Diederich.

Velma Iona Harder-Schweiss was born May 11, 1923 to Myrtle (Tesrow) and Joseph Hale in Home Township in Brown County Minnesota. She grew up on their family farm where at an early age, Velma’s love of gardening began when she sold garden and flower seeds and grew some of those seeds.

Velma married Wayland Harder October, 1944. They traveled to various states until Wayland’s discharge from the Army. They made their first home on the farm north of Sleepy Eye, then moved to their farm south of Essig where they raised their 4 children. Velma loved attending to her large vegetable and flower gardens, along with the geese, ducks and chickens. She canned the vegetables from the garden, collected eggs to feed the family. Nothing went to waste.

When Wayland passed away in December 1970 Velma then moved to New Ulm where Velma worked at BF Goodrich/Panasote until she retired in 1988. Velma’s biggest passion was her flowers and flower gardens. She loved showing her flowers and sharing them with everyone. She also enjoyed taking photos, especially of old barns and of course her flowers. Another activity she loved was Polka dancing where she met her second husband, Arnie Schweiss, who she married in 1988. They were married for 30 years and lived in their house on Broadway in New Ulm where everyone recognized their house as “the one with the horses”.

Velma was loved by her family and will be missed by all.

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