Mildred "Mickey" (Nelson) Jansson , age 100, died peacefully on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at Fairview Range Medical Center, Hibbing, MN.

Mickey was born in Nashwauk, MN on April 3, 1923 and remained in Nashwauk until she graduated high school. She spent a short time going to beauty school in Chicago until 1943 when she returned home to Nashwauk and was hired by the Butler Brothers and became the first woman miner. Mickey's mining career came to an end when her shifts were finished for the season in 1945 and she married Evert Jansson whom she met the previous year during a visit with her grandparents in Canada. They were married for 66 years before Evert died in January 2013 at the age of 89. After leaving Canada in 1967, Mickey lived in 3 locations in Chicago, IL. until she moved back to Minnesota in 1975, where she owned the old Balsam Store for a year, and then moved to many locations in Minnesota as Evert was flipping houses. Around 1981 she moved to Calgary, Alberta, and Steinbach, Manitoba, then back to the United States to Arizona and 3 different locations in Florida, and then in 2013, to her final stop in Hibbing, Minnesota.

Mickey was always happy and always giving, right up to her final days. She was always knitting right up to around 95 and giving wool hats to the maternity ward at Fairview Range Hospital and small wool outfits and dressed dolls to the Salvation Army Christmas Tree. Mickey always enjoyed music and dancing, especially accordion and polkas. She also enjoyed traveling, either long or short trips to a lake hoping to spot a wild critter. She enjoyed nature as it is, the quiet, the sound of the birds, and just sitting by a fire watching the lake.

Mickey is preceded in death by her parents, Nels and Gerda Nelson; husband, Evert; brother, Elmer; sisters, Betty and Edith.

She is survived by her two daughters, Evelyn and Judy; two sons, Rick and John; one granddaughter; three grandsons; one great granddaughter; and six great grandsons.

Visitation will be Sunday, July 30, 2023 from 12 PM until the 1 PM Memorial Service at Rowe Funeral Home, Grand Rapids, MN.

Arrangements are with Rowe Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Grand Rapids, MN. To   sign   the   online   guestbook   or   send   condolences   visit www.rowefuneralhomeandcrematory.com.