Ethelyn Jacobson Haugland, 82
Ethelyn Jacobson Haugland, 82, passed away May 6, 2008, of natural causes at Edgewood Vista in Kalispell. Ethelyn was born June 28, 1925, in Rushford, Minn., the first of four children, to Gunhild and Nels Jacobson. She had one sister, Lila, and brothers Nels and James.
Prior to her death, she lived in Kalispell for 28 years with her husband, Palmer, and daughter, Solveig.
Funeral services for Ethelyn Haugland will be held at 10 a.m. today, May 8, at Northridge Lutheran Church in Kalispell, with Pastor Dan Heskett officiating.
Ethelyn attended Rushford High School, and worked for her uncle in Chicago and Augsburg Publishing House in Minneapolis. She completed certification as a lab technician and working in Casper, Wyo.
Her interest in science led her to enroll in and work her way through Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and biology. After graduation in 1955, Ethelyn taught chemistry and biology at U.S. Air Force bases around the world, which took her to Japan, England, France and Norway.
Adventurous and independent, she never missed an opportunity to take a weekend trip to the Suez Canal or ski the French Alps. She became an excellent amateur photographer, recording her journeys with insightful, untraditional images of her destinations, from Mount Fuji to the Champs-Elyse/s.
Upon returning stateside in the early 1960s, she settled in Minneapolis, where she continued working as a teacher, and attended square dances.
At a dance in July 1962, she met Palmer Haugland, whom she had met briefly at their joint going-away party when both had left for Europe five years previously. They were engaged six weeks later and were married Nov. 20 of that year. The couple moved to Bakersfield, Calif., for work; soon after, they relocated to Boulder, Colo., where she gave birth to a daughter, Solveig Laura. After a brief tenure in Washington, D.C., the family moved to Juneau, Alaska, where, from 1974 to 1979, Ethelyn led Girl Scout troops, clipped salmon fins for wildlife-research projects, and pursued the art of tole painting. She also enjoyed skiing, hiking, ice skating, and had a fondness for movies, especially the best of Jacques Tati.
In 1980, the family settled in Kalispell, where she helped her husband build their house (as she had with the previous two). She pursued her interests in birding and flower gardening, and became an active member of Friends of the Library, Sons of Norway, Northridge Lutheran Church, and Northridge spirituality groups. Ethelyn took joy in learning anything she could on any topic, from encyclopedias, maps, books, and especially good conversation.
She continued traveling throughout her life, visiting her grandparents' native Norway frequently, including a trip with her husband and daughter when she was 72. At home, she pored over maps, devoured biographical histories, and, later in life, satisfied a lifelong appetite for learning by buying a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica. The last book she completed, not long ago, was a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Her acute mind and keen sense of humor will be missed.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Gunhild Jacobson; her father, Nels Jacobson; sister, Lila Isberg; and brother, James Jacobson.
She is survived by her husband, Palmer Haugland, of Kalispell; her daughter, Solveig Haugland, of Lafayette, Colo.; and brother, Nels, of Peterson, Minn.
Ethelyn was a delightful and original woman whose intelligence, insight, kindness and adventurous spirit made this world a better and more interesting place.