Norma Helene Olson, 81, of Fargo, ND and formerly of Velva and rural Balfour, passed away peacefully on January 23 at Eventide Fargo. A Graveside Service will be held at 11:00AM Saturday, August 17, 2024 at the Balfour Cemetery.  A luncheon will follow at 12:00 PM at the Oak Valley Lutheran Church: 400 Main Street North Velva, ND 58790.

Norma Helene Ellenson was born to Joseph and Joyce (Smith) Ellenson in Colfax, ND in 1942 and was raised in Walcott, ND.  She graduated from Walcott High School in 1960.  Norma was never afraid of hard work and had many interesting jobs in her youth including babysitting, housecleaning, operating the switchboard at the local phone company, and working as a waitress at her aunt Vicki Ellenson's Café in Walcott. It was there she met her future husband Gene who worked as a diesel mechanic at Wigtil Implement just down the street.

On October 24, 1964 she was married to Gene Olson of Balfour, ND at Zion Evangelical United Brethren Church of rural Walcott. They made their home on the Olson homestead farm southwest of Balfour where they raised two sons.

Once her boys were off to school, Norma returned to waitressing and worked for many years at Pete's Café in Balfour and the Dakota Prairie Café in Butte, ND.  She and Gene moved to Velva, ND in the fall of 2001 when Gene retired from farming.  Norma worked at the Lariat Restaurant and the Main Street Diner in Velva until she retired in 2014.

When not in her kitchen cooking or baking, she enjoyed working in her flowerbeds and her vegetable garden and keeping her yard and home neat and tidy. She loved sitting on her patio hearing the birds sing and having a cup of coffee on an early summer morning. She was well known for her canning and jelly making, regularly supplying friends and family with bountiful harvests from her well-tended garden. Norma moved to Fargo in 2021 to be closer to her siblings and she helped care for her brother Gordy until his death in 2022.

Norma was a member of the Balfour Lutheran Church and active in the Evangelical Lutheran Church Women. She was a member of the Women's Auxiliary of the Lawrence E. Meidl American Legion Post #270 of Butte and she and Gene were members of the Loyal Order of Moose Lodge #822 in Minot and avid polka dancers with the Northwest Polkateers. She was an active member of the Velva Senior Citizens where she could often be found in the kitchen helping prepare and serve meals until moving to Fargo in 2021.

Norma is survived by her sons Arden Olson (Jennifer Oberstar), Maple Grove, MN and Merlen Olson (Stuart Teigen), Minneapolis, MN; granddaughters Annika and Rona Olson; sisters Marjorie (Gene) Wolter, Wadena, MN, Jeanette (Marvin) Baarstad, Fargo, ND, Bonnie (Allan) Christianson, Kindred, ND, brother Ray Ellenson, Virginia, MN, sisters-in-law Eileen Peterson, Detroit Lakes, MN and Beverly (Richard) Lobsinger, Williston, ND, brother-in-law Roger Kleppe, Norco, CA and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Gene, her parents; brothers Jerome and Gordon Ellenson, sisters-in-law Pam Ellenson and Rheta Kleppe, brother-in-law Dale Peterson and niece Michelle Kleppe Scott.