Vione Olson

Vione R. Olson, age 97 of Battle Lake, Minnesota, formerly of Fergus Falls, MN, passed away Saturday, March 30, 2024, at the Good Samaritan in Battle Lake, MN.

Visitation for Vione Olson will be held Friday, April 5, 2024, from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. at Bethel Lutheran Church in Herman, MN.

Funeral services for Vione Ruth Olson will be at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, April 5, 2024, at Bethel Lutheran Church in Herman, MN, with Reverend Cheryl Berg officiating.

Interment will be in Lakeside Cemetery, rural Herman, MN.

Vione Ruth Larson was born on a farm near Norcross, MN, on May 23, 1926, the youngest daughter of Simon Larson and Inga Mary (Amundson) Larson. She attended elementary school in Norcross and graduated from Herman High School in 1944. She attended Moorhead State College for one year and then was qualified to be a teacher in a one room school house in rural Minnesota with students grades one through eight. Both of her assignments were in Grant County, one close to Hoffman, and one close to her grandparent’s farm in North Ottawa Township.

Re-meeting Norcross native, O. Clifford Olson after he returned from his service in the Army Air Corps during WWII interrupted her teaching career. They married on November 30, 1947 and settled on a farm in Gorton Township where they raised two children and remained until 1991. During those years, their parents and all of their extended families lived around them in six square miles, attended Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Norcross and, by in large, attended the same public schools. In addition to all farm, family, church, and school activities, Vione was finishing her Bachelor’s degree one class at a time. She graduated in 1969 from the University of Minnesota, Morris with a degree in Elementary Education. After that diploma, she continued her studies at Moorhead State College and earned a certificate in learning disabilities. Her first job after her B.A. degree was as a Title One teacher in Wendell, MN for three years. After a learning disability certificate was achieved, she started working for the Tri-County Special Education Co-op in Wahpeton, ND. She fought for students with special ed. needs that needed unique solutions which was very new at that time. Her need to learn continued into retirement. She learned how to golf, play bridge, draw, paint and made new circles of friends doing those new activities in MN and AZ.

Vione’s life of service was also evident in her volunteer activities during all the years on the farm and during their years of retirement in Fergus Falls and Arizona. She served as a Grant County Hospice volunteer, a Lake Region Hospital volunteer, a worker at the Victory Lutheran/St. Peter’s Homeless Aid Station in Phoenix, AZ, a reader for the blind at Bethlehem Lutheran Church and a member of the VFW Auxiliary. Her welcome mat was always open to any family or non-family member who happened to stop by. Coffee, goodies and pleasant conversation were always available. Almost every holiday was an opportunity to entertain.

She is survived by her children: Harley Olson (Beverly) and Cindy Peterson (Tom); four grandchildren: Gwen Thompson (Chad), Matthew Peterson (Grace), Trista Moffitt (Branden), and Amanda Dahl (Thomas); seven great-grandchildren: Avery Thompson, Adelyn, and Kadence Peterson, Evelyn and Norah Moffitt, Alaina and Bria Dahl; two sisters-in-law: Cathy Olson-Adams and Janice Larson.

She is preceded in death by husband: Clifford; brothers and sisters and their spouses: Alfred and Irene Larson, Stella and David Prothero, Eunice and Albert Martinson, Dorothy Larson, Leonard Larson, and Loren Larson.

Memorials are preferred to Bethel Lutheran Church in Herman, MN.

Arrangements are with Olson Funeral in Fergus Falls, MN.