ORLEEN BERGATHA BORSTAD-ANDERSON

Orleen Bergetha (Borstad) Anderson It is with great sadness that her family and friends inform you that Ms. Orleen Bergetha (Borstad) Anderson (86) of Devils Lake passed away on 22 February 2014 at the Arlington Gardens Care Center in Riverside, CA. She had been visiting her son Danny and his family and her other son Marty when she became ill and was hospitalized. Orleen was diagnosed with an advance stage of lung cancer and was eventually placed in hospice care. Born Orleen Bergetha Borstad on 13 July 1927 in Devils Lake, North Dakota, she was the fourth of four children born to Haakon Borstad and Alma Peterson. Haakon immigrated to North Dakota from Norway in 1905 and married Alma in 1915 where they settled on a farm near Fort Totten, ND.   Two years after Orleen was born, Alma fell ill and passed away leaving Haakon with four young children to raise in their prairie home. As the youngest, Orleen eventually went to live with her grandparents while attending school in Devils Lake. As a young woman, Orleen excelled in school. She loved to read and seemed to have a thirst for knowledge with interests as varied as politics and abnormal psychology. After graduating from High School in Devils Lake, she attended colleges in several states including Oklahoma and California earning advanced degrees. As much as she enjoyed learning, Orleen soon discovered she enjoyed teaching nearly as much. She eventually settled in Corona, California where she taught and eventually retired. Orleen was a very caring and nurturing individual. Orleen’s father Haakon remarried in 1954 to a new love of his life, Leona and with whom Orleen enjoyed a new mother-daughter relationship. When they moved to Devils Lake, Orleen often returned from her travels and studies to spend time with them and other family in North Dakota.  When her older sister Evelyn Shaffer was terminally ill with cancer in 1969, Orleen took time from her teaching to return to North Dakota to be by her side and aid in her care. Haakon and Leona eventually moved to Arizona during their retirement years. Orleen visited them with nearly every break she had from teaching.   During their advanced years and when their health was failing in the early 1970’s, she moved them to California where she could help provide daily care until the end of their lives. After she retired from teaching, Orleen moved back to North Dakota and married Clarence Anderson in March of 1987. It was Clarence’s first marriage and Orleen’s third. They lived together in their Grafton, ND home until Clarence’s death in May 1993. Orleen continued to live in Grafton for several more years until she moved to Devils Lake once again and lived with her nephew Theodore Shaffer and his family for more than a decade. Orleen was a complex individual, very independent and private with many aspects of her life. She was a devoted Christian yet believed in the existence of life on other planets and in reincarnation. She loved animals, especially cats. She adopted stray cats, and would provide them with food and affection. She refused to have her cats neutered or spayed because she loved having kittens to care for. If she had her way, she would have been known as the Cat Lady of Devils Lake. After each litter she would reluctantly put them up for adoption, but not before interrogating each family to be sure they would properly care for the kitten they chose. She loved to watch the Minnesota Twins play baseball and rarely missed a televised game. She was rarely seen without her “baseball cap” holding down her hair which refused to grey. She also cheered for the Minnesota Vikings and loved to watch them try to play football. Orleen would travel to Jamestown frequently to watch her nephew play basketball at Jamestown College. She continued her interest in politics and was never hesitant to give her opinion when she thought the President, Congress and/or individual politicians were out of contact with the real world. Orleen is survived by her son Danny Hanson and his wife Diana and their three daughters, Desiree and her husband Brian Wagner, Deidre Hanson, and Danielle all living in California. She also has a son Marty living in Moreno Valley, California. She also leaves behind many loving nieces, nephews and other family and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Evelyn Shaffer, brothers Archie Borstad and Blanding Borstad and their spouses. Family and friends are invited to a funeral service on Saturday 22 March 2014 being held at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Devils Lake, ND at 10:30 a.m. with Rev. Jeff Nicla officiating.   Burial will be in the Devils Lake Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the Gilbertson Funeral Home in Devils Lake on Friday 21 March from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. and visitation on Saturday morning at the Church one hour prior to the funeral service. Interment will be in the Devils Lake Cemetery with a reception to follow in the Church basement The caring staff at Gilbertson Funeral Home in Devils Lake is in charge of the arrangements.