GILBERTSON, Olivia Anna (Torvik) 1913-2000

NERLI, TORVIK, GILBERTSON, JONES, MUGGLI, STONEKING

Posted By: IA GenWeb Volunteer
Date: 9/24/2010 at 11:54:40

Decorah Journal, Thursday, May 4, 2000

Anna Olivia (Torvik) Gilbertson

Olivia Torvik Gilbertson, 87, died Thursday, April 27, 2000, in Decorah.

A funeral service was held Monday, May 1, at 11 a.m., at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Burial was at Hills of Rest Memorial Park in Sioux Falls.

The George Boom Funeral Home in Sioux Falls handled arrangements.

A respected church leader, teacher and homemaker, she was the widow of Dr. E.O. Gilbertson, who was bishop of the South Dakota District of the American Lutheran Church from 1958-80. Dr. Gilbertson died in 1989.

A longtime resident of Sioux Falls, S.D., she moved to Decorah in 1992 to be near her daughter, Carol Gilbertson and husband Mark Muggli and her granddaughters Clara and Ellen Gilbertson Muggli.

In 1993 Olivia became a resident of Barthell Eastern Star Home, where she resided till death.

Anna Olivia Torvik was born in 1913 in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar, to Lutheran missionary parents Gunerius and Anna Nerli Torvik. She attended elementary school in Madagascar and traveled alone at age 16 to the United States, where she attended high school in Moorhead, Minn. and graduated in English with honors from Concordia College.

She taught high school English in Montana and Minnesota prior to her marriage to Everett Gilbertson in 1939. Together they served Lutheran church parishes in Absarokee, Mont., Crosby, N.D. and Brookings, S. D.

In 1959 they moved to Sioux Falls, when the Rev. Gilbertson became district president of South Dakota District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

In Sioux Falls Olivia was an active member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church, American Lutheran Church Women, Association for Retarded Citizens, Augustana College Fellows, Meals on Wheels, Luther Manor Auxiliary, Sioux Vocational School Auxiliary and Augustana College Auxiliary.

She was a respected church leader and frequent presenter throughout the state. She traveled extensively with her husband in Europe, Scandinavia and Africa.

Olivia served as remotivation director at Luther Manor Home during the 1980s.

In Decorah, she attended First Lutheran Church.

Survivors include one sister, Agnes Jones; one brother, Olav Torvik; and her six children and their families: Daniel and his wife Priscilla of Monterey, Calif., Mark and his wife Patricia of Seguin, Texas, Philip and his wife Carol of Stockton, Calif., Carol and her husband Mark Muggli of Decorah, Jeanne Stoneking of Minneapolis, Minn., and Stephen of Sioux Falls, S.D.; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Olivia Gilbertson was preceded in death by her husband, three sisters and two brothers.

Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer from obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa.