Helen I. Halvorson

HELEN I. HALVORSON, 85, Devils Lake, ND, died May 17, 2008 at the Good Samaritan Center in Devils Lake. Funeral services for Helen will be at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Devils Lake on Wednesday, May 21, at 2 PM. Rev. Harold Ovre will officiate with burial in the Devils Lake Cemetery. Visitation will be at the Gilbertson Funeral Home, Devils Lake on Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. with a prayer service and time of remembrance at 7:00 p.m. Visitation on Wednesday will be at the church one hour prior to the funeral service. Serving as casket bearers will be Gerald Dimmler, James Ackerman, Albert Wood, Dennis Thompson, Dennis Aardahl and Donald Holler. Honorary Bearers will be all of Helen’s former students. Music will be provided by Lynda Pearson, organist, and Russell Pearson, soloist. Helen Irene Skaug was born August 22, 1922, the daughter of Alfred and Nora (Sabie) Skaug in Highland Township, Ramsey County, North Dakota. She was educated in Highland School, the Nekoma High School, Mayville State University, and Lutheran Bible School in Seattle, Washington. Most of her forty-one years of teaching were in Crary, ND. She also taught in Milton and Hamilton. She was a member of the St. Olaf Lutheran Church and the WELCA. Helen was united in marriage to Olaf A. Halvorson in the St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Devils Lake on June 15, 1957. They made their home in Crary, ND. Olaf passed away in 1976. Throughout her retirement years, Helen was an active volunteer with the Quilting Group at St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church and with Greeting Card Crafting at the Devils Lake Senior Center. She also took part in the Annual Walk for Cancer Cure and helped put out the monthly newsletter, The Spire, at the St. Olaf Lutheran Church. Helen is survived by a step-son, Donald (Dody) Halvorson of Underwood, Minnesota, a step-daughter, Dorothy Rerich of Edina, Minnesota, five step-grandchildren and three step-great-grandchildren. Other survivors include two nieces, Arlene Jacobson James of Overland Park, Kansas, and Mary Skaug Skare of Huber Heights, Ohio, and two nephews, Charles Skaug of Phoenix, Arizona, and Norman Skaug of Bemidji, Minnesota. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her brother, Arthur Skaug, her sister, Ida Skaug Jacobson, and her nephew, Joseph Jacobson. The family requests that memorials be directed to St. Olaf Lutheran Church or Devils Lake Senior Meals and Services.