Memorial Service
Gearty-Delmore - St. Louis Park Chapel-
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Email Details
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3960 Wooddale Ave South
St. Louis Park, Minnesota 55416 -
Please sign up to attend the service at the link below.
Harriet Lorraine Sundet
May 16, 1931 — January 31, 2021
Harriet Lorraine Sundet
Harriet Lorraine Sundet passed away on January 31, 2021. She was 89 years old.
Harriet was born in Williston, North Dakota, to Gladys I. Hanson. Harriet attended Williston schools from grade 1 through grade 12. She graduated from Williston High School in 1949. After high school Harriet worked as a copywriter in the advertising department for a radio station in Williston.
Soon after she set out on a mission to work in television. At the time, it was a male dominated industry, but Harriet refused to let her resume fall to the bottom of the pile because of her gender.
Determined to make her mark in her job field of interest, she ventured out of Williston to La Crosse, WI, where she landed a job as a copywriter in the advertising department at a local TV station.
After two years in La Crosse, Harriet’s broadcast experience and desire to live and work in a larger media market led her to Minneapolis and a position as a copywriter at WTCN-TV, now known as KARE 11.
Three years later, she advanced to a job as Office Manager of the KSTP-TV/Channel 5 newsroom where she worked alongside Ron Majors, Stan Turner, Cyndi Brucato, Dave Dahl, Joe Schmitt, and other TV icons. In this role, she made sure reporters and photographers got airline tickets, transportation, and accommodations necessary to cover news around the world. Some notable stories include the Hormel strike in Austin, MN, the famine in the Sudan, and several Olympic games. She also processed employment for hundreds of new anchors, reporters, and producers and found them places to live. She kept the newsroom script files in tip-top shape and was known for helping to get news on the air by running tapes up two flights of stairs to master control in her signature pencil skirt and high heels.
After more than 40 years in broadcast journalism, Harriet retired from KSTP in 1996 to spend more time walking Lake Harriet and hanging out with friends and family.
The people Harriet Sundet worked with over her television career revere her as a pioneer in television news, a champion for women, a valued colleague, and trusted friend, including Hubbard Broadcasting CEO Stanley Hubbard.
She shared with her family and friends many interesting stories about her work, her fellow workers and especially about the Stanley Hubbard family who were the owners of several television and radio stations throughout the United States. She told about reporters, photographers and producers from New York coming to Minneapolis for Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s funeral in January of 1978. The New York journalists needed 4-wheel drive vehicles and asked Harriet to make arrangements for their crew to lease such a machine. She proudly told them the station owned several such vehicles. She stated those eastern journalist’s mouths dropped open when they heard that Hubbard’s KSTP owned their own vehicles for TV news crews to use.
Harriet lived in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. She was so proud of the St. Louis Park area where she lived. Her home was close to Lake Harriet and she would walk the roughly 3 miles around the lake many nights each week during the months weather permitted.
Harriet was one of the people who purchased the apartment house she lived in and organized the building into a condominium with 72 condo units. She served as the president of the condo board for several years. She was very proud of her leadership in the condo association. She had records of every board meeting, all decisions made and documentation of when rules and regs had not been followed.
Harriet is survived by her brothers, Larry Hanson of South Heart, ND, and Glen (Shirley) Hanson of Kersey, CO, nieces Shelly Burton (Caleb) and Rita Hanson-Bohl, nephews Jarrod Hanson (Amy) and Darren Hanson, great niece Morgan Bohl, two great-nephews Dan Bohl, Connor Bohl, and special friends, Ian and Kari Logan, Britt Logan DiGiulio and Paul DiGiulio, and Deborah Dolan.
The family wants to thank the staff and caregivers at TowerLight, staff and caregivers from Level Mountain, and staff and caregivers from Our Lady of Peace Hospice.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, February 6, 2021 at 2:00 at Gearty-Delmore Funeral Home, 3960 Wooddale Avenue So., St. Louis Park, MN. Due to limited capacity during the pandemic, space is limited and we are asking that those who plan on attending reserve a spot here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4EA4AA2BABFAC70-harriet . Those who are unable to attend are able to view a livestream of the service above.
An outdoor Celebration of Life gathering will take place in the spring, in celebration of what would have been Harriet’s 90 th birthday. Details to follow.
Memorial contributions may be sent to The Hubbard Broadcasting Foundation, c/o Tom Newberry, 3415 University Ave. W., St. Paul, MN 55114.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Harriet Lorraine Sundet, please visit our flower store.
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