Ardella Leon Triebenbach

Ardella Leon Triebenbach passed away at the Hadley House Assisted Living facility in Perham, Minnesota on Thursday, August 21, 2025. Ardella was born on July 21, 1930, at home with the aid of a mid-wife. An only child, she grew up on her parents William and Olga (Kassube) Bartelt’s 80-acre farm in Germania Township, Todd County which is north of Clarissa, Minnesota.

Ardella attended school for the first eight years in a District 160 country one-room schoolhouse just a half mile from their home. She wanted to go to high school in Clarissa but there were no buses, so she stayed at the home of her aunt and uncle in town. She recalled she was the first one from District 160 to go to high school. Ardella graduated in 1948 from Clarissa High School. During the summer following graduation she spent six weeks at Concordia College in St. Paul learning about teaching elementary students. It was an emergency program as the parochial schools were in dire need of teachers. In September she started teaching students in grades 1-4 at Wykoff, Minnesota.

Following the school year Ardella returned to Clarissa. On October 29, 1950, she was married to Harold Triebenbach. The ceremony was held at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Germania Township. It was the same church she had been baptized, confirmed, and then married.

Ardella and Harold left the day after their wedding for Riverdale, North Dakota where Harold was employed as a mechanic for the firm that was working on the Garrison Dam. For the next eight years they lived in Pierre, South Dakota; Two Harbors, Schroeder and Virginia, Minnesota as Harold continued to be employed as a mechanic. In July 1958, the family moved to Detroit Lakes where Harold began working for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. In 1967 Ardella and Harold bought a 160-acre farm northeast of Detroit Lakes and started farming the land.

Ardella and Harold raised three sons and one daughter. All four children were members of the Cloverdale 4-H Club. Ardella served 15 years as adult and project leader for the club, and later years on the county level for the Becker County 4-H program. After the children graduated Ardella became active in the Garden Club and became a Minnesota Master Gardener in 1984. She and Harold had the opportunity to travel to National Master Gardener conferences across the United States. Ardella wrote a weekly column for the local Detroit Lakes newspaper entitled “Gardening with Ardella” for decades. Her columns featured a variety of topics, anything horticulture. In December 2013, Ardella was presented with a certificate from the University of Minnesota Extension in recognition of 30 years of service as a U of M Master Gardener, and in December 2016, she was recognized for 6000+ hours of service as a Master Gardener.

Ardella was a stay-at-home farm wife and mother, spending many hours sewing clothing for her children and tending to a large garden. She froze and canned many fruits and vegetables and made jelly. She enjoyed raising a variety of flowers and submitted entries at local flower shows and the Becker County Fair. She also volunteered for the school PTA groups, was active with her church’s women Bible Study group, and the church council. During their retirement years Ardella and Harold liked to say they got the “traveling bug.” They bought a camper and joined a local Good Sam RV camping club. For years they enjoyed camping trips in areas of Minnesota and the neighboring states from April to October. They started spending the winters in Texas but always looked forward to returning to Minnesota in the spring.

Ardella was preceded in death by her husband of 72 years, Harold, and her parents. She is survived by her four children. Keith (Colleen), Sandra (Russ) Stobb, Jonathan (Paula), and Miles (Dorinda), eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held on Friday, August 29, 2025, at Zion Lutheran Church 1100 Lake Avenue, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota at 11:00AM. A visitation with the family will be held Thursday, August 28, 2025, from 5 to 7PM with a prayer service at 6:30PM at West-Kjos Funeral Home, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and one hour preceding the funeral service on Friday.

The family requests memorials to be given to Zion Lutheran Church, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.