Sola, John died 1980

SOLA, SVENDSEN, BAKER, BRAHAM, GLOVER, SWENSON

Posted By: Bill Waters (email)
Date: 7/3/2017 at 18:30:09

Transcribed from scans of a 1980 newspaper clipping submitted by Stacey Gossling from the Winneshiek Historical Society Obituary collection.

John Sola 76, dies in Norway

John Sola, a native of Norway, died November 25, 1980 In Sola, Norway, the country of his birth. John came to America when he was a young man of 19. He married the late Mildred Svendsen of Decorah in 1940. Mildred was the sister of Kyrre Swenson, a respected resident of Decorah, and Mrs. Jenny Baker of Bluffton, recent widow of Mr. Don Baker.

John and Mildred lived in Chicago with their two daughters, Sonja and Amy. Sonja, his eldest daughter, lives in Chicago. Amy Braham, her husband Bernard and their five year old son, Aaron John, live in Glenview, Ill

John worked for the United States Steel Company in Chicago for many years until his retirement. After the death of his wife in 1954, Sonja and Amy came to Decorah and lived with their aunt, the late Mrs. Amy Glover, their mother’s older sister. Sonja and Amy returned to Chicago after attending Luther College.

During the summer of 1980, it was learned that John had terminal cancer. He left Chicago July 31 and returned to his homeland to spend his remaining time among his three brothers and four sisters in Sola, Norway.

John was a man whose actions were greater than his words, and whose many acts of charity went unknown. He was a man of strong and simple faith. He is buried among his ancestors In Sola Kirke, a church close to the place of his birth. He was 76.