Ethel M. Cohrs, age 102 of Westbrook passed away Tuesday May 18, 2010 at the Westbrook Good Samaritan Center.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, May 21 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Westbrook.

Visitation will be held 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday at the Westbrook Funeral Home, and will continue one hour prior to services at the church.  Interment is in the Westbrook Cemetery.  The Westbrook Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Ethel M. Cohrs was born May 30, 1907 at Summit, South Dakota to Ned and Anna (Busk) Nelsen.  She grew up on a farm near Westbrook and graduated from Westbrook High School in 1926.  Ethel chose the nursing profession and received her training at Home Hospital in Slayton and Minneapolis General.  She also did post-graduate work in obstetrics at Ripley Memorial in Minneapolis.  Early in her career, Ethel did private duty nursing and volunteer nursing at the Slayton Home Hospital during the Depression.  On July 23, 1932 she and August C. Cohrs were married at Westbrook.  Following their marriage, they made their home in Westbrook where they raised their three daughters.  In addition to being a homemaker, Ethel worked as an RN at the Westbrook Clinic from 1944 until 1973. Ethel was a member of Immanuel Baptist Church where she was active in the life and ministry of the church.  She participated in the Rosenau Sewing Society, sewing for the missionaries, and the Ladies Missionary Society.  Ethel also assisted at the Christian School for 10 years as a volunteer following her retirement.  Community involvement included the Clara Barton Club and the Hospital Auxiliary.  Ethel’s favorite pastimes included gardening, flowers, knitting and quilt-making.

Survivors include her three daughters and their husbands, Dawn and Arlyn Wahl of Ft. Ripley, MN, Diane and Bernard Balling of Bovey, MN, Dorothy and Robert Clift of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada; 14 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren; 16 great-great-grandchildren; brothers: Donald Nelsen of Texas and James Nelsen of St. Paul, MN; sisters: Vera Larson of Westbrook, Nina Franz of Plymouth, MN, and Ardys Dennis of Saltilo, TX; many cousins; nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her parents; husband August, young sister Betty Anne, brothers Leslie and Lloyd Nelsen, sisters Amy Benson, Irene Sturges and Vivian Schauer, 3 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild.