Emma (Vander Wal) Wagenaar, age 89, died December 14, 2011, at Mother Joseph Manor in Aberdeen. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m., Saturday, December 17 at the United Methodist Church in Arlington, where Emma was a long-time member. Burial will be in the Arlington City Cemetery. Visitations will be from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, December 16 at Eidsness Funeral Chapel in Volga. Memorials may be made to the building fund of the United Methodist Church in Arlington. Emma Vander Wal Wagenaar was born June 19, 1922, at Volga, South Dakota, to John and Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Boon) Vander Wal, one of nine children. She was educated in rural Volga schools, graduated from Volga High School and completed her registered nurse's training at Luther Hospital in Watertown, South Dakota. After that, she attended the University of Minnesota's medical school to become a certified nurse anesthetist. She married Mark Wagenaar on March 28, 1946 in Volga. Together, they farmed near Volga, then near Estelline. Emma served a circuit of rural area hospitals. Mark and Emma had four children. Mark preceded her in death in May 1990. Emma was the quintessential caregiver - a mother who knew how to make each of her children feel special; a grandmother who never missed an important date on the calendar; and a cook who never let anyone go away from her table less than stuffed with homemade breads, meals and desserts. Her family loved her homemade Yorkshire pudding, and buns. She loved knitting and made many generations of her family sweaters, slippers and intricate quilts which they still treasure. She was a pioneer providing assistance in the operating room, on call day and night, regardless of the winter weather outside. She kept meticulous tabs on even the most extended family, and it is probably fitting that Emma didn't go to her eternal rest until every one of her siblings and her husband's siblings had passed. That would have been the way she wanted it. Survivors include her children, Shirley (Jerry) Lacher of Aberdeen, Gary (Janet) Wagenaar of Austin, Minn., Steve (Kathy) Wagenaar of Aberdeen and Audrey (Joe) Bailey of Wasilla, Alaska, seven grandchildren: Jessica (Jeff) Andrist of Monticello, Minn., Cassandra (Kenneth) Christensen of Norfolk, Neb., April (Lucas) Ostermann of Faribault, Minn., Angela (Darrell) Ehrlick of Casper, Wyo., Case (Tess) Wagenaar of Grand Forks, N.D., Cole (Becky) Wagenaar of Fife, Wa., and Mark Bailey, Fairbanks, Alaska, six great-grandchildren: Alexandra of Monticello, Minn., Garrett and Ivy of Faribault, Minn., Mollie and Samuel of Casper, Wyo., and Caden of Grand Forks, N.D. She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; and eight siblings, brothers William, Arie and Bert and John Vander Wal; and sisters Nell Breeschoten, Johanna Rozendal, Gert Breeschoten, and Margery Nelson.