Ardythe Constance Niemela

Our beloved mother, Ardythe Constance (Budnik) Niemela went home to be with Jesus on February 14, 2024 after a brief illness. She was born on March 16, 1929 to Joseph and Elodese Crystal (Rice) Budnik in Bessemer, Michigan. She spent her youth enjoying summers on her grandparent’s farm in Princeton, Wisconsin. This was the beginning of her love for antiques which had a very sentimental value to her throughout her life. She was a devout Catholic and attended parochial school and later graduated from A.D. Johnston High School in her hometown of Bessemer. Throughout her teen years, she worked at various local hospitals as a nurse aid, developing her warm and tender nurturing skills that she excelled at when raising her children or caring for convalescing family members. It was during this time she met her future husband who was fresh out of the service, Elmer “Pud” Niemela. (She loved telling the story of how he proposed to her on Christmas Eve at Eddy Park in Wakefield and how the beautiful snowflakes landed on his long eyelashes!)

A month after graduating from high school, they were married at St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church on June 21, 1947. They lived in Waukegan, Illinois until their love for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where both their families lived, brought them home. They settled in the copper mining town of White Pine, where they raised their four children. Ardythe was a homemaker who greeted her children with a smile on her face every day when they came home from school and usually with a fresh baked treat. Her children compared her to Martha Stewart as she had quite the knack for keeping and decorating a beautiful home for her family. When they were older, she worked various cleaning jobs, including at the US Post Office in White Pine. She was known for her poise and grace which also landed her local modeling appointments at various department stores. She loved dancing and sang like an angel. Ardythe was a member of St. Jude’s Parish and was active in the church. After her husband passed away in 1986, she moved to Wakefield to be closer and care for her elderly mother. She became a member of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Ironwood and became a Befriender, which involves bringing Holy Communion to those of the church who were in the hospital or home bound. She took her duties very seriously and was a faithful servant of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Ardythe resided in Wakefield until her most recent move to Lansing in 2019 to be closer to her children and grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Elodese; dear husband, Elmer; brothers, Walter, Joseph, and infant brother, “Baby Billy” and grandson, Daniel Garland. She leaves behind her beloved children, Michael (Patricia) Niemela of Haslett, Michigan, Christopher Niemela of Haslett, Julie Niemela of Grand Rapids, and Lori Garland of Howell; grandchildren, Jason (Stephanie) Garland of Greenville, Wisconsin, Dr. Jacob Lupini of Southgate, Michigan, Daniel’s wife, Chelsea of Howell and great grandchildren, Nolan, Isabelle, Collin, Camryn, and baby Sawyer.

She was delighted when they all were able to be together, mainly at Christmas. She will be sorely missed as our family’s matriarch, but we are comforted knowing she rests in the arms of our Lord and Savior.

A special thanks to her daughter-in-law, Patty who served as a caregiver the entire time she lived in Lansing.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 11 a.m., CST, preceded by visitation in the St. Joseph Family Room at 10 a.m., CST, at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, 108 S. Marquette St., in Ironwood, Michigan with the Rev. Brian Gerber as celebrant.

Rite of Committal and interment will take place at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Bessemer, Michigan in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, for those desiring memorial contributions may be made to Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, 108 S. Marquette St., Ironwood, MI 49938.