SIOUX CITY | Freda S. Gorsett, 71, of Sioux City passed away Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, after an accident.
Services will be held 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. James United Methodist Church with a lunch following. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m., and a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Meyer Brothers Morningside Chapel.
Freda was born June 15, 1942, in Racine, Wis., to Fritz and Syliva Forss. The family moved to Sioux City in 1953 and later to South Sioux City, where Freda graduated from South Sioux City High School in 1960.
She married Marc Gorsett in 1960, and the couple raised four children in Sioux City. When her two oldest children were young, she worked at Zenith and later at Younkers. Shortly after the birth of their twin daughters, Freda began a home daycare. With their home just a block from Whittier Elementary school, hundreds of kids spent time in her care over the last 40-plus years.
Freda had a servant’s heart and was active helping others. Over the years she has been a Girl Scout leader, room mother, and has always been active at her church. As a member of First Baptist Church for nearly 40 years she was active teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, leading the women’s ministry, and serving on several boards. When the church closed in 1995, Freda joined St. James United Methodist Church. She continued living out her faith there chairing UMW, was president of the church board, and was instrumental in so many facets of church outreach and activities, but her humble spirit would also find her helping to clean the restrooms.
As her family grew, she was always the host for holidays, birthdays, and special occasions. She welcomed everyone as family and was a great hostess. Freda was an accomplished seamstress and was always sewing something, usually for one of her children or grandchildren, wedding dresses, Halloween costumes, prom dresses, and kitchen curtains.
Freda and Marc enjoyed traveling to scenic places including Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, and many vacations to several of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. She enjoyed fishing and often landed the biggest fish in the boat.
Freda never learned to drive, and her husband and kids would say it’s because she could never stay awake in the car. Instead, Freda was able to spend time and make friends catching rides with others. She was also an avid walker and she made time almost every day. When she wasn’t walking with Marc for exercise or walking granddaughter Rylee to school, she walked with God, using her walks for her prayer time.
Freda’s greatest joys were spending time with her family and serving God. She was a blessing to all who knew her.
She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Marc; son, Jeff and wife, Shawn Gorsett of Sioux City; daughters, Jennifer and John Winquist of Sioux City, Janette and Tony Heiner of Pueblo, Colo., and Janene Gorsett of Sioux City; 19 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; brothers, Fred and Marlene Forss of Proctor, Minn., Jim Forss of Sioux City, and Dave and Amy Forss of LaVista, Neb.; sister, Lisa and Darren King of El Paso, Texas; and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; in-laws; and granddaughter, Jasmine Kleve.
