Spouse: Mary Aarestad
Children: Ray Elden Aarestad, Murray L. Aarestad, Betty J. Aarestad Pitts, Eunice P. Aarestad Lyon, Bonnie Jean Aarestad Davis, Reta E. Palmer
Elvin Palmer Aarestad, aged 97, a resident of Country Meadows Village in Sedro-Woolley, WA, died December 18, 2000, at the hospital in Mount Vernon. He has gone to rest and joy in the presence of the Lord he loved and served his entire life.
Elvin was born June 23, 1903 in Cooperstown, North Dakota, the oldest of ten children born to Hans and Malena Aarestad. He spent his early years in North Dakota. His family moved to Alberta when Elvin was 12. He helped his dad on the farm as he was growing up, often contract combining grain around the neighboring farms at harvest time. He married Mary Stewart in Provost, Saskatchewan in 1926. Together they had six children and were married 31 years before she died in 1957. He then married Velda Robinson Jorgensen of Bellingham in 1965. They had 25 years together traveling and enjoying family before she died in 1990.
He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Murray and Shirley Aarestad of Boise, ID, and their children and grandchildren. His late son's wife, Joy Simmons Aarestad and their children and grandchildren; his daughters, Betty J. Pitts of Marblemount, and her children and grandchildren; Eunice (Nika) Lyon of Burlington, and her daughters and grandchildren; Bonnie and Dan Davis of Ephrata, and their children and grandchildren; and Reta and Dave Palmer of Samish Island, and their children and grandchildren. Altogether he had 22 grandchildren, 39 great-grandchildren, and 18 great-great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters, Helen Aarestad of Spokane, and Ruby and Jim Streber of Grandview, as well as his brother, Ken and Georgia Aarestad of Monett, MO. He was preceded in death by two wives and one son, Ray, three sisters, and three brothers.
Elvin can be characterized as being an "Elvin of Almost All Trades." He logged. He participated in the construction of Stevens Pass Highway and the High Gorge Dam. He was a heavyduty mechanic for the Grand Coulee Dam project. He did lots of carpentry work, both at the family home and at various housing projects in Washington and California. He owned his own hay brokering business for several years, ran a hardware store, and designed and built (or in the last few years at least supervised) many projects for his children's homes. He was an accomplished musician and played "by ear" many instruments—including the one that expressed his heart most eloquently, the violin. He entertained his children when they were young with little songs in Norwegian he sang to them. He loved all his children and grandchildren, and took pride in their various accomplishments. He was a good man. He enjoyed many years on this earth and it was time to go home and be with his Maker.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Hawthorne Funeral Home in Mount Vernon. Services are scheduled for Saturday, December 23, at 11:00 AM. Interment will be at the Fir-Conway Cemetery, Milltown, WA., at 2:00 PM.
Obituary taken from the Hawthorne Funeral Home Folder.