Remembering Zella Green

Zella Pauline Trezona Green, former worker at the transportation and safety offices, died Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Northwood Deaconess Health Center in Grand Forks.  She was 91.

Pauline was born on May 26, 1920, in Oskaloosa, Iowa, to Lee R. and Zella (Chamberlain) Trezona. She grew up in several small towns in Iowa, graduating from high school in Brandon, Iowa. She earned her bachelor’s in English from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa and her master’s in Christian Education from Boston University in Boston, Mass.

She met J. Carleton Green there where he was in seminary at Boston University.  They were married on June 10, 1943 in the Methodist Church in Mt. Vernon by Pauline’s step-father, W. Glenn Rowley, who was pastor there.

They moved to Grand Forks in 1957, where Carleton was an associate professor of religion at Wesley College and UND. They returned to the parish ministry in 1970 with the Yoke Parish of Larimore, Emerado and Arvilla. They returned to Grand Forks in 1977 where Carleton served as associate pastor at Wesley United Methodist until retiring in 1980.

Pauline worked at UND in the transportation and safety offices from 1978–1985.

Pauline was active in all the churches she and Carleton served – playing organ as needed, singing in the choir and serving in the women’s society. She was a long-time member of PEO and enjoyed various activities with Carleton.  They participated in many Elderhostel trips through the years.

Pauline is survived by her two daughters, Janet (Bill) Jones of Eyota, Minn. and Sue Stoa of Grand Forks; two grandsons, Chad Goetz of Liverpool, N.Y. and Craig Goetz of Phoenix, Ariz.; step-sister, Betty Rowley, of Boulder, Colo., nephew, Skip Green, of Mt. Prospect, Ill., nephew Kevin Wissink and niece, Julie Scott. She was preceded in death by her husband, Carleton, her parents and her step-sister, Barb Wissink.

Memorials are suggested to Wesley United Methodist Church in Grand Forks.

— Courtesy of the Grand Forks Herald.