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1 of 1977 Retrieved from the La Crosse Tribune

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Imagefile	People\Gundersen_Alf.jpg
Name	Gundersen, Alf
Other Name	Alf Helge Gundersen
Birth Date	12/10/1898
Deceased	6/1/1986
Place of Death	La Crosse, WI
Mother	Helga S. Isaksætre Gundersen
Father	Adolf Gundersen
Spouse	Carroll McCarty Gundersen
Children	Dr. A. Erik Gundersen Signe Gundersen Schroeder Margaret "Marit" Gundersen Kulleseid
Occupation	Urologist -- 1926 to circa 1971 (45-year career)
Role	Medical
Education	Central High School -- graduated 1916 University of Wisconsin-Madison Harvard Medical School -- graduated 1923 Residency at Roosevelt Hospital -- completed 1926
Places of Residence	La Crosse, WI Madison, WI (UW-Madison) Boston, MA (Harvard Medical School) New York City, NY (medical residency)
Notes	Dr. Alf Helge Gundersen was born to Norwegian immigrants Adolf and Helga S. Gundersen (née Isaksætre) on December 10, 1898. He was one of eight children born to the Gundersens. He graduated from Central High in 1916, then began his pre-med coursework at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Alf put his college experience on pause in order to serve in the U.S. Army during WWI as a corporal in the artillery unit, Btry E 331 FA, and subsequently lost part of his ability to hear. After his tour ended in 1919, he continued his education by attending Harvard Medical School and obtained his medical degree in 1923. He did his residency at Roosevelt Hospital in New York, and during his medical education met Carroll McCarty. After finishing his surgical residency in urology in 1926, he and Carroll married on February 10, 1926 in Buffalo, New York. The couple moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin shortly after their marriage, where he joined his father, Adolf, and brothers, Sigurd and Gunnar, at the Lutheran Hospital and established the hospital's urology department. A few years later in 1930, Alf, his father, and his brothers would establish a new clinic, and the Gundersens would move their practice there. In 1942 and 1943, he served as a major in a military hospital in WWII. Alf and his brothers Sigurd and Gunnar established the Adolf Gundersen Medical Foundation in 1944, named after their late father, which would later become the Gundersen Health System. He would serve the foundation as well as the La Crosse Lutheran Hospital Association in varying capacities over the years, and in 1968, while serving as the vice president of the Adolf Gundersen Medical Foundation, personally donated $50,000 to the foundation's cardiac research program. A year earlier, in 1967, while acting as toastmaster to the reunion of the Central High classes of 1916 and 1917, Dr. Alf nominated Mrs. Hixon for the La Crosse Hall of Fame after her generous donation of the Hixon House to the La Crosse Historical Society. In 1977, he and his wife, Carroll, named the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as the beneficiary of their 112-acre farm near Coon Valley, High Hope Springs. The UW-L foundation purchased surrounding farmland, and the combined land was named the Helga Gundersen Arboretum after Alf's mother. It would later become Norskedalen, meaning Norwegian Valley, and the Norskedalen Nature and Heritage Center would eventually become independent from the UW-L system. In July of 1984, Alf received a Knight of the Order of St. Olaf medal from the Norwegian government as recognition for his groundbreaking in urology: the development of the first transurethral prostate surgery. He passed away on June 1, 1986 at the age of 87 after his 45-year career as a urologist, survived by his wife, Carroll Gundersen (née McCarty); their three children, Dr. A. Erik Gundersen, Signe Schroeder (née Gundersen), and Margaret "Marit" Kulleseid (née Gundersen); and his several grandchildren. His legacy as a urologist continues through his many students, who traveled from around the world to learn his transurethral surgical technique.
Image Caption	Retrieved from the La Crosse Tribune

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