Mass of Christian Burial will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at the Church of St. Benedict in Avon for Colleen B. Thielman who died Friday, November 22, 2019 at Serenity Place on 7th in St. Joseph. The Rev. Gregory Miller, OSB will officiate and burial will be in the parish cemetery. Visitation will be on Monday, December 2, 2019 from 5-8pm at the Williams Dingmann Funeral Home in Avon and 1 hour prior to services Tuesday at the church in Avon. St. Benedict Christian Women will pray at 7 p.m. followed by Parish Prayers at 7:30 p.m. on Monday at the funeral home in Avon.
Colleen was born June 1, 1928 in St. Cloud to John & Magdalene (Gaetz) Graham. She married Howard M. Thielman on May 25, 1949 at Holy Angels Catholic Church in St. Cloud. She worked as an administrative assistant at St. John’s University in the school of Theology for many years until her retirement. Colleen was a member of the church of St. Benedict’s in Avon and St. Benedict’s Christian Women and the Avon local women’s card group. She was a wonderful cook, artist and enjoyed china painting. Crafting was also a passion, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were lucky enough to receive many crafting gifts. Colleen and Howard enjoyed traveling and in retirement split their time between Arizona and Minnesota.
Survivors include her husband, Howard of St. Joseph; children, Cathleen (Lonnie) Blair of Buffalo, Maren (Jeff) Biegert of Plymouth, Peggy of St. Cloud and Paul of Minnetonka; sisters, Mary Ellen Gans of Excelsior, Claire Graham of Avon, Rita Pfeffer of Maple Grove; 8 grandchildren; and 11 great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; son, Thomas in 2017; and granddaughter, Jennifer Mergen in 1978.
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