Carlisle "Cissy" Sellwood
June 12, 1937 — July 22, 2016
Carlisle (Cissy) Opsahl Sellwood, 79, of Duluth passed away in her home on July 22, 2016, surrounded by three generations of her family.
Cissy was born on June 12, 1937. She attended The Madeira and Westover Schools in Virginia, and graduated from Garland Junior College in Boston, Massachusetts (’58). She married William Opsahl and taught nursery school in Connecticut before they returned to Duluth to raise their family. In 1992, she earned a bachelor's degree from the College of St. Scholastica and returned to working with young people at 2001, a youth residential treatment center. Cissy was an active community volunteer, serving in the Duluth Junior League, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, St. Mary’s Hospital, and the Duluth Area Hockey Association. Her love of the outdoors and enthusiasm for sports led to spending winters in the woods with her recreational sled dog team. Cissy's vibrant spirit, sense of humor and love of nature, family, and fun were her essence and her legacy.
Cissy was preceded in death by her parents Joseph and Virginia Fryberger Sellwood. She is survived by her three children, Lee Stubenvoll (John), Laura Bordelon (Brett) and Michael Opsahl (Lisa); six grandchildren, Megan Knetsch (Jonathan), Michael Stubenvoll (Gina), Ari Opsahl (Harley), Matthew and Thomas Opsahl, and Maxwell Bordelon; and great-granddaughter Ella Knetsch.
MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL: 11 a.m. Friday, August 26th, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, w2802 E 4th St. Duluth, MN. Visitation one hour prior to the service. Memorials may be given to The Duluth Retriever Club, P.O. Box 3074, Duluth, MN 55803-3074 or the Benedictine Developmental Preschool at the College of St. Scholastica, 935 Kenwood Avenue, Duluth, MN 55811. Arrangements by Dougherty Funeral Home, 600 E 2nd St. Duluth, MN, (218) 727-3555.