Services for Elna M. Halle
After a long and difficult journey with Alzheimer’s Disease, Elna M. Halle, age 82, formerly of Oklee, MN, died on Thursday, August 2, 2018 at the Halstad Living Center in Halstad, MN.
Memorial Service will be held at 10:30 AM, Friday, August 17, 2018 at Salem Lutheran Church, rural Oklee, MN.
Elna Marie (Larson) Halle was born in Garnes Township, Red Lake County, MN, on September 3, 1935, to Bennet and Helga (Larson) Larson. She was baptized into the Christian faith and confirmed at Salem Lutheran Church in rural Oklee, where she was a congregation member all her life.
She graduated from Oklee High School in 1953. In 1955 she was married to Art (Sonny) Halle Jr., of Plummer. The couple had two sons, Timothy and Richard. The family lived in many different places in the early years of marriage as Sonny built a career in the construction business. After they separated, Elna and her sons made their home for a time in Lake Elmo, MN, where she worked selling Avon and cooked at Minnesota Mining Company. This training served her well when Elna and her boys moved back to Oklee and she became a popular cook at the Oklee Recreation/Bowling Alley for many years. Elna also worked as a radio dispatcher for the Red Lake County sheriff’s department.
After her boys graduated from high school, Elna was once again on the move. Her brother Ernie asked her to come work for him, and she became an associate at his Chinook, Montana, Gambles Store.
In 1979 Elna made the move back to Minnesota and settled in the community of Bemidji. She worked at North County Regional Hospital, as supervisor of the admitting department until her retirement in 1997.
Elna loved to sing and play music and was happiest at the keys of a piano, playing by ear and harmonizing with relatives and friends. In Clearbrook, where she lived after her retirement, she was honored to be asked to perform weekly at the local Senior Site. Always ready to lend a helping hand, she enjoyed taking part in and organizing many of the group activities at the Brookfield Senior Apartments in Clearbrook.
Elna’s sister, Ruth, was a constant companion in their retirement years, and they both loved to travel and take in rummage and garage sales. If they weren’t shopping at a rummage sale, Elna and Ruth liked to host their own garage sales, where they would sell and argue the day away, which was another favorite activity in the Larson family. The brothers and sisters were able to happily pursue this practice in their later years, when Elna and three siblings (Gunda, Ruth and Donny) were all residents and neighbors at Freedom Living Center in Oklee, Elna resided there from 2010 until 2015 when she moved to MN Greenleaf Assisted Living and Memory Care Unit in Thief River Falls. Due to her declining health she moved to Halstad Living Center in June of this year.
Traveling was another activity that Elna enjoyed and she was happy to say that she visited most of the states in the U.S. She took numerous trips with friends and family. She was a proud and loving grandmother to her grandsons, Alex and Ian.
Elna was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Goodwin, Engvald, Martin, Alvin, Ernie and Donald; sisters Gunda, Leona and Ruth and sister-in-law June.
She is survived by her sons, Tim and his wife Jeanne Halle, of Gonvick, MN and Richard Halle of Pinewood, MN; grandsons, Alex Halle of Thief River Falls, MN and Ian Halle of West Fargo, ND; brother Bennet and his wife Virginia Larson, Oklee, MN; sisters-in-law Edna Larson of Alexandria, MN and Artista Larson of Chinook, MT as well as many nieces and nephews.
Condolences may be sent to www.johnsonfuneralservice.com
