My Paternal Grandparents

Joel Lorimer Olson - 1906 - 1985
Joel Lorimer Olson was born in Battle Lake, Minnesota, on September 12, 1906 and passed away on May 12, 1985, in City Hospital at Saskatoon at the age of 78 years and 8 months. He came to Canada with his family in the fall of 1909 and settled North of Broderick. He attended school at Eden Valley and Golden Meadow schools. Joel loved machines and after getting a Grade 7 education he was involved in working on the farm. He loved running the Steam Engine for threshing. When his parents were both sick he was sent to find a hired girl. He went to the Tjøsvold farm at Strongfield and brought Olida home to be the hired girl. In 1926 he was united in marriage to Olida Tjøsvold and to this union were born three sons and one daughter. He farmed for 45 years in the Hawarden area and served on the local school and telephone boards. Joel was a committed Christian and an active member of Skudesnes Lutheran Church where he held various offices on the church council, and taught the adult Bible class for many years. He was a respected lay speaker who often preached at home and in other. congregations.He was also active in the Elbow Bible Camp and served a few years as caretaker.In the early 1970's he retired to Strongfield where he lived until 1981 when he suffered a stroke, and moved to Saskatoon.
Christine Olida Tjøsvold -1905-2003
Christine Olida Tjøsvold was born at her parents home in Roberts County South Dakota on the 17 of November 1905. At the age of eleven she moved with her family to Strongfield Sask.where she continued her education at Wildon school. She attended services and was confirmed at Skudesnes church. At the age of 16 she left school to work with her sister, Mable , living in the "Cookcar"and cooking for harvesters. She gained a wealth of experience in home making from working "out" for various neighbors . One day a very handsome, red haired, blue-eyed man came to her parents door desperate for a girl to help his sick mother . She went, and five months to the day later married Joel Olson. On the death of Joel's parents shortly after their marriage, she became surrogate mother to his four young sisters , ranging in age from 6 to 13. For a time Joel's teenaged brothers made their home with Joel and Lida, too, so the table usually had at least eight to ten people around it. A son and a daughter, David and Ione, were born while Joel's sisters were still very young, so there were six children under the age of fifteen to be clothed, fed and sheltered - all this by a young couple 25 years of age during the great depression. Olida was equal to the task. She was an excellent cook, meticulous seamstress, and avid gardener. She could make delicious meals from very little, made beautiful garments from flour sacks and old clothes,(one morning she made a dress for Esther before school!)-- and her garden was not only super productive but also her refuge when the stress level peaked. She always had some red and pink poppies in the middle of the vegetable garden. In the winter she would spin yarn and provide knitted garments and make quilts. The boys were gone and older girls were out working by the time the second son Oliver,was born . When she was down to her own children and Clara, she took under her wing to nurture and help an orphaned teenaged sister and brother from a neighboring farm. Dorothy"s children still call her grandma. The year that Clara was married, the last of her children, Lorimer, was born. After nineteen years she now had only her own four children at home. The door was always open, and the house was always full, the table always bountiful and there was always space to spread another bedroll on the floor! Lida was always more comfortable with fifteen people around her than one on one!
After they were married they lived on the homestead North of Broderick. Then moved to the Perry place west of Hawarden. Then in the early 40's they bought a farm four miles East of Hawarden. In the early 1970's they fixed up the old Tjøsvold house in Strongfield and retired there. In 1981, Joel had a stroke and they moved to Saskatoon. Joel passed away in 1985. Grandma Olida shortly after his passing moved into the Circle Drive Alliance Church condominiums. In 2000, we celebrated her 95th birthday at Rock of Ages Lutheran Brethren Church. She lived there until she got sick on New Years Day, 2001. After a brief stay she moved to a private care home in Saskatoon operated by an old neighbor from the farm at Hawarden. In March 2002 she moved to a private care home operated in Outlook. In August 2002, Olida had a bad fall at the Care home and ended up in the hospital for a few days. From the hospital she moved into the Outlook and district Pioneer Home where she lived until her passing. After a chest infection Olida passed away at 5:15AM Wednesday July 16,2003.