Dagny (Anderson) Bolken
Published: September 30. 2009 4:00AM PST
Nov. 23, 1916 - Sept. 26, 2009
Former Terrebonne resident, Dagny Bolken, 92, passed away peacefully Sat. afternoon Sept. 26th in Mukilteo, WA.
Dagny was born on the Anderson homestead near Farland in McKenzie County, North Dakota.
She fondly liked to tell about when Farland was the stage stop between Williston and Sanish and at that time Farland had its own post office. (It never became a town). Dagny rode her horse the mile and a half to attend grade school at the Farland country school and lived and worked in the hotel her uncle owned while attending high school in Watford City, some 11 miles from home. She was baptized and confirmed at the Farland Lutheran Church.
On June 6, 1935, she married Harold Bolken of Arnegard, ND at the Willmington Lutheran Church. They took over the Bolken Homestead, three miles north of Arnegard where they raised their children, Olaf, Paul, Luther, Melody and Nolan. In Nov. 1952, they sold the farm, then moved to a small farm in Springfield, OR. where Dagny had one more child, Kaja.
In 1974, Harold retired from the sawmill he worked in and they moved onto the small ranch owned by son, Olaf, in Terrebonne where they lived the next 28 years.
Dagny loved to sing and was very active in church choirs in Arnegard, Springfield and Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Sisters, OR. She sang many duets with Harold over those years and also sang with the Sweet Adalines while in Springfield. While living in Central Oregon, she enjoyed watching Olafs three children, Trygve, Torfinn, Tove grow up next door, baking and entertaining as often as any one would drop in. Her grandchildren gave her a large sign which read "Grandmas buns are best" which she proudly displayed right next to her sign, "Welcome, make yourself at home". She was active in the Grange and Sons of Norway and loved cooking and teaching others how to make Norwegian goodies.
After Harold passed away in 2002, she went to live with her daughter, Melody and her husband, Lewis Hunsberger overlooking Puget Sound north of Seattle. She and Melody spent their winters in Palm Springs, CA, and their summers in Mukilteo, WA, where the Hunsbergers own a sheet metal company.
She leaves behind many, many friends and relatives and her six children, 12 grand children, 13 great-grand children and two great-great -grandchildren. She, with her always cheerful smile, will be greatly missed.
Arrangements for her burial at Arnegard Willmington Cemetery are pending. A memorial service in Vancouver, WA is planned for late October.
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