January 4, 1909 – Thursday, March 6, 2008

Service Information
Buffalo Presbyterian Church
3/11/08
2:00 p.m.

Visitation Information

Templin, Vera (Learned Ilstrup), age 99 of Buffalo died peacefully on Thursday, March 6, 2008, at Sunrise Assisted Living of Buffalo.

Vera was born January 4, 1909, at home in Waverly to Abijah E. and Mabel Mary (Nee Redmond) Learned. Her family moved to Buffalo when her father became Deputy Registrar of Deeds there in 1915. Vera graduated in 1926 from Buffalo High School and went on to Normal Training and taught in one room country schools near Buffalo and Monticello for two years. She then graduated from St. Cloud Teachers™ College and was a first grade teacher in St. Cloud for two years.

On August 8th, 1933, Vera and E. R. (Ray) Ilstrup were married in ceremony in her parents™ backyard overlooking Buffalo Lake. Ray and Vera were blessed with five children. She was a wonderful mother, homemaker, and supporter of her husband Ray, who served for ten years in the Minnesota House of Representatives. For many years, Vera worked as Deputy Registrar of Deeds and retired as the Registrar of Deeds for Wright County.

On her 81st birthday in 1990, Vera married Herbert Templin, a friend from Buffalo school days. Herb died in 1993. At the age of 93, Vera left her home of 63 years to move to Sunrise, where she enjoyed Red Hats, bingo and many activities.

In June of 1999 Vera was honored at the inaugural Minnesota Lynx women™s basketball game at Target Center for Pioneers of Women™s Sports in Minnesota, including Patty Berg, pro golfer, and Ann Bancroft, North Pole explorer, among others. Vera had played basketball at Buffalo High for six years, and had been on the varsity team since ninth grade.

On Valentine™s Day, 2006, Vera was again honored, along with Honey Mattson and Babe Durand, at Buffalo High as a pioneer of girls™ basketball there. They signed copies of the book, Daughters of the Game, about Minnesota girls who played basketball from the 1890™s to 1942. They were given honorary basketballs and certificates in the auditorium before the girls™ basketball game, and both teams spontaneously lined up to shake their hands. Vera was thrilled! All her life she loved sports, especially watching her Twins, Vikings and Timberwolves on TV.

Vera™s family and friends will certainly miss her wonderful life stories and Ole and Lena jokes.

Vera was a longtime member of Buffalo Presbyterian Church, American Legion Auxiliary, Buffalo Women™s Club, Red Hatters Club of Sunrise, and Order of the Eastern Star Galilee Chapter #53 for which she served as a worthy Matron twice. For years she volunteered at Parkview Nursing Home.

Vera was preceded in death by husbands: E. R. Ray Ilstrup and Herbert Templin; brothers: Lloyd and Bradley Learned; sister: Shirley (Learned) Cox; and daughter Margie Opsahl. She is survived by loving children: Marshall (Jean) Graeagle of CA, Mary (Lyle) Dyck of New Hope, Myrna Docherty of Maple Grove, and Michael of Buffalo; son-in-law: Paul Opsahl; former sons-in-law: James (Barb) Lee and Warren (Mary) Docherty; grandchildren: David (Donna) and Greg Ilstrup of CA, Brian (Carolyn) Dyck of WA, Julie (Mark) Hudak of Champlin, Debbie Lee of Anoka, Deanna Opsahl and Darcy (Steve) Shannon of IL, David (Kelly) Docherty of Plymouth, Karen (Mark Gonzalez) Docherty of AZ, and Beth Docherty of Maple Grove; great-grandchildren: Emma Ilstrup, Tyler and Jake Shannon, Foster and Maxwell Docherty, and Herbert Templin™s children and their families; special friend from Sunrise: Roland Cox; nephews, nieces and many other good friends and relatives.