Thief River Falls - Helen Torkelson Olson, 90, died Sunday, June 6, 1999 at Northwest Medical Center in Thief River Falls.
Funeral services will be held today (Wednesday, June 9) at 2 p.m. at St. Pauli Lutheran Church, rural Thief River Falls, with Reverend Terri Cuppett officiating. Grace Hammer will be the organist, and soloists will be Van Swanson and Terri Cuppett. Casketbearers will be Cere Smith, Damita Underwood, Dana Torkelson, Kari Torkelson, Kayla Pizzo, Kirsten Garrett, Linnae Lecher and Marisa Johnson. Burial will be in St. Pauli Cemetery in Rocksbury township of Pennington county.
Visitation was held on Tuesday, June 8 from 5 to 8 p.m. with a 8 p.m. prayer service at Green Funeral Home in Thief River Falls. Visitation will also be held for one hour prior to services at the church.
Helen Agnes Wiken was born on May 17, 1909 in Smiley township, the daughter of Halvor and Caroline (Rosedahl) Wiken. She was baptized and confirmed in Norwegian at St. Pauli Lutheran Church and attended school at Washington School, District 221.
On February 17, 1931 Helen was united in marriage to Melvin Torkelson in Thief River Falls. The couple farmed in rural Thief River Falls all of their married life. Melvin died in 1982.
Helen was an organist at St. Pauli Lutheran Church for over 20 years and was active in its Ladies Aid and circle. She worked at Oakland Park Nursing Home and Northwestern Hospital as a nurse's aid and at Arctic Cat in the fiberglass department. She was a member of Sons of Norway and Golden Years Choir.
She enjoyed dancing, playing the piano, farming, working outdoors and burning dead grass, crossword puzzles, travel, flowers, needlework and horses. Helen liked her coffee hot and her cake sweet.
On July 3, 1983 she married Orris Olson and lived in Oklee until moving to Valley Home in Thief River Falls in February of 1998.
Survivors include her husband, Orris; one sister, Emma Haydal Stroud of Billings, MT; two sons, Wallace (Delores) Torkelson of Thief River Falls and Marvin (Darlene) of Milwaukee, WI; five daughters, Geraldine Guerard of South Milwaukee, WI, Wahna Smith of Lawrenceville, GA; Faye (Oliver) Auchenpaugh of Thief River Falls, Ivette Garrett of South St. Paul and Pamela (Kevin) Kittridge of Maplewood; 30 grandchildren; numerous great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Melvin; two sons, Francis Marion and Willis; two brothers, Gustav and Martin; two sons-in-law, Theodore Guerard and Robert Garrett; and one daughter-in-law, Dorothy Torkelson.
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