Darlene “Dar” Kay Folstad, age 87, of Rice Lake, WI, died Friday, May 23, 2025 in Hudson, WI. She was born on December 19, 1937 in Rice Lake to Kenneth and Lillian (McLellan) Stearns along with her twin sister, Marlene.

Darlene graduated from Rice Lake High School in 1957. During her high school years she worked at Schultz Brother Dime Store at the candy counter. After graduation she spent 1 year at Montgomery Wards in St. Paul and moved back to Rice Lake in 1958 and became a long distance telephone operator for Bell System Company that became General Telephone Company for 15 years. She was married to Arthur “Bud” Folstad on November 16, 1968 in Rice Lake. They moved to Galesville, WI where their daughter, Jodi was born in 1973 and a son, James “Jim” was born in 1975.

They moved back to Rice Lake in 1979. Darlene went back to work at GTE and worked on repair service taking trouble calls from customers, and also worked on dispatch giving trouble calls to switchman from Rice Lake to Ashland, to Ladysmith, to St. Croix Falls, but her favorite switchman of course was her Bud. She enjoyed her friends at the United Presbyterian Church, where she was also a Sunday School Teacher. She loved to clean homes and also did daycare. Dar and Bud also enjoyed traveling around the United States. In her later years, her place was with Bud, because he had an interstitial lung disease.

She is survived by her daughter, Jodi (Travis) Waldschmidt; a son, Jim (Jody) Folstad; 9 grandchildren, Emily, Eli (Taylor), Caleb, Callie, Maddie, and Levi Waldschmidt, Hunter, Crystal and Logan Folstad; 2 great grandchildren, MiElla Ainsley McKinney and Landon Austin Diggs; 4 step grandchildren, Dominick (Mae), Bryce, Hannah and Madisyn Guertin; a brother, Jerry (Marilyn) Stearns; many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur “Bud” Folstad; her parents, Kenneth and Lillian Stearns; twin sister, Marlene Bartels; a sister, Donna Weber and a brother, Russel Stearns.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, May 29, 2025 from 4-6PM at Appleyard’s Home for Funerals in Rice Lake, WI, with a short service to begin at 6PM, with interment in the Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spooner, WI.

Last Update: May 26, 2025 1:31 pm CDT