Grace O. Onan

Grace Olsgaard Onan was, at her core, a teacher. She taught her first class in 1941 and her last in 2006. She taught formally in high school and informally in everything she did whether as a volunteer at Church or in civic organizations.Grace was raised in Rustad and was a member of Hoff Lutheran Church. In 1947 she married Cedric Onan and became a member of the Presbyterian Church serving as an elder, a deacon, and a Sunday school teacher. She participated in women's groups in both Baker and Moorhead. Grace had a will to make things better through community service. She served the PTA, both at the local and state level, and participated in the Sabin Follies. She was in Home Ec club for 27 years. She co-chaired drives for Sister Kenny and for the Red Cross. She served the Farm Bureau and the county benefited from her 32 years on the County Extension Board. She was accomplished at hardanger embroidery and at sewing. For years she judged sewing, foods, crafts, etc at county fairs.She enjoyed cultural studies involving herself in the St. Andrews Society and the Swedish Society. In later years, she dedicated most of her effort to the study and sharing of Norwegian. She refreshed her knowledge of Norwegian by taking classes at Concordia and by going to Elderhostel. She volunteered at many events, wearing her Hallingdal bunad and giving ad hoc history and culture lectures. She shared her love of the language by teaching at the Sons of Norway, taking great pride and pleasure in her students.She died at her home at the age of 88. She is survived by her children Kay, Boston, Mass; Mark Marcy and his children, Christopher and Angela, of Nashville; Lance Jackie and his children, Bridget and Kelly, of Wauwatosa, WI; brothers Maurice May Olsgaard and Charles Mary Olsgaard of Moorhead; Theodore Norma Olsgaard of Fargo, Richard Rose Olsgaard of Seattle and Otto Lavonne Olsgaard of West Fargo; sisters Elna Gerlitz of Indianapolis, Ida Marie Flaaten of Moorhead, and Hazel Gerald Iwen of Minneapolis; brother-in-law Harry Kakutani of Hawaii; sisters-in-law Eleanor Raymond Olsgaard of Fargo and Anne Herold Olsgaard of Moorhead. She was preceded in death by brothers Oscar, Selmer, Raymond, Peter, Herold and James and sisters Shirley and Marjorie.