Sigrun Sigurdson

Sigrun Sigurdson, Mountain, passed away Friday, September 19, 2014 at the age of 98. She was born June 29, 1916 on the family homestead north of Gardar in Gardar Township. She was the 12th of the 13 children of Geirmundur Bjorn and Thordis Davidsdottir Olgeirson. Sigrun was a child of the prairie and the prairie was her playground. She knew the names of prairie flowers and birds and could predict the weather by watching the clouds and the wind. Like all farm kids of her time, she worked on the farm and loved farm animals, especially horses and raked hay with a team of horses when she was in her 20s. She went to school at the at the Gardar Prairie School southeast of her home through the 5th grade then walked north 1 mile to attend Eyford School #2 through the 8th grade. Sigrun went to live with her Aunt Anna Swanlow in Milton to attend high school and graduated from Milton High in 1934. Aunt Anna encouraged her to write home each week and she became a beautiful letter writer; later in life she wrote weekly letters to her daughters when they were students at UND and to others in her family until arthritis made it too difficult to do any longer when she was in her 90s. On November 25, 1945, she married Stefan Baldur Sigurdson at the parsonage in Mountain and they settled on the Sigurdson farm 3 miles south of Mountain, a mile north of her place of birth. They lived in a little 15 x 15 house that Baldur moved to the farm with the help of his uncle Karty Halldorson. Baldur dug the well for the house by hand, so they had running water, but it had to be heated on the stove to use. They farmed small grains on the Sigurdson farm as well as milked cows and raised sheep and chickens. They had three daughters, Judith Stephanie, Kathleen Noel Ann, and Susan Elaine. In the early 1960s they moved into the big house on the farm. Sigrun lived on the farm until 2002 when she moved to an apartment in Mountain. Later she moved into Borg Memorial Home and eventually to Wedgewood Manor in Cavalier. As a child of immigrants from Iceland, Sigrun was proud of her Icelandic heritage and Icelandic was her first language and she spoke it fluently. She and her twin brother Bjorn were honored to serve as the Parade Grand Marshals at the 2nd of August celebration in 2006 when they were 90 years old. Sigrun's life work was her family. She cared for her own family along with helping her brothers and sisters as they aged. She sewed snow suits from hand-me-down coats for her daughters as well as dresses and pajamas. She learned to bake bread at age 12 and baked bread weekly for her family. Her caramel rolls always disappeared at family events. She made Amma cookies' (oatmeal chocolate chip cookies) and tvibakkas (hard toasts) for the grandkids and for the regular stream of coffee table guests including the daily visit from her brother Bjorn. In her lifetime, Sigrun saw many changes: gas lanterns and wind chargers gave way to electricity, crank telephones to party lines and then cell phones and Skype, horse and buggy to cars and planes. She loved music and sometimes played piano at dances in the Eyford Hall with the local band The Cow Killers. Sigrun and Bjorn sang together frequently at the Gardar Community Club. Music would be her solace in her later years at the nursing home and she would listen to old time music by the hour. Sigrun was a charter member of the Borg Auxiliary and volunteered many hours there in the beauty shop and baking for the annual bazaar. She was a member of Eyford Lutheran Church, Eyford Ladies Aid and choir. She was a member of the Pembina Hills Lutheran Church congregation, as well as the American Legion Auxiliary. She was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Stefan Baldur Sigurdson, her parents and siblings: Anna, Gudrun, Aurora, Betty, Lily, Jona, Robert, Sigga, Einar, David, Barney, and twin brother Bjorn. She is survived daughters: Judy (Richard) Geir of Edinburg, Kathy Thorlakson of Mountain, and Susan (Tim) Sigurdson Powers of Moorhead, MN; grandchildren: Kristi Olafson, Plymouth, MN, Cheri (Dave) Stanford of Northfield, MN, Erik (Casey) Thorlakson of Hensel, ND, Carissa Thorlakson, Princeton, NJ, great grandchildren: Taylor and Macey Stanford, step-grandchildren: Neil (Amy)Powers, Osage, MN, Nick (Heather) Powers, Portland, OR, and step great grandchildren: Meagan, Jaden, and Hunter Powers and Elizabeth Powers, Ericka Lawonn, and Camden Lawson. Funeral Services will be Wednesday, September 24, 2014 at 10:30 A.M. at the Vikur Lutheran Church of Mountain. Visitation will be Tuesday from 5-7:00 P.M. with a prayer service at 7:00 P.M. at the Tollefson Funeral Home of Edinburg. Friends may call at the church on Wednesday for one hour prior to the service. Interment will be at the Thingvalla Lutheran Cemetery, rural Mountain.