Eleanor Irene Halverson Fitzgibbons, 89
Eleanor Irene Halverson Fitzgibbons, 89
Eleanor Irene Halverson Fitzgibbons, 89, passed away on Friday, Oct. 14, 2011, at the Immanuel Lutheran Home in Kalispell.
She was born on April 6, 1922, in Harlem, Mont., the daughter of Bernhard O. and Clara Tosterud.
She grew up on a farm near Turner, Mont., the second of three children. She attended nurses training in Havre at Deaconess Hospital and enlisted into the U.S. Army in 1945 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. She met her future husband Karl, a returning prisoner of war, at the conclusion of the war. They were married on Feb. 14, 1946 in Walnut Creek, Calif. They were loving companions for 52 years and she was the mother of three children.
The family lived in California, Colorado and Connecticut, and in 1959 they moved to Saudi Arabia, where they lived for fifteen years, where Karl worked for Arabian American Oil Company. She was very fluent in Arabic. They traveled extensively in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Far East and North America, including three trips around the world. She retired with Karl in 1974 to Montana and settled in a lovely mountain setting near Kalispell.
She enjoyed woodworking, knitting, crocheting, bible study, her cats, mountain living and watching all the wildlife around her, making lefse and lutefisk.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Karl Fitzgibbons; her parents, Bernhard O. and Clara Tosterud Halverson; her daughter, Karla Reynolds; brother, Vernon Halverson; and her daughter-in-law, Sally Fitzgibbons.
She is survived by her two sons, Dale Fitzgibbons and wife Judy of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Gerald Fitzgibbons of Fort Collins, Colo.; son-in-law, Bobby Reynolds of Billings; a sister, Alice Graves of Las Vegas; three granddaughters, Brytta Fitzgibbons of Cedar Rapids, Sarah Fitzgibbons of Greeley, Colo., and Jennifer Sagucio of Ewa Beach, Hawaii; and special friends, Mike and Alexis Laychak of Kalispell.
Funeral services for Eleanor will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21 at Johnson -Gloschat Funeral Home. Burial will follow services at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery, with military honors.
Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for Eleanor's family. You are invited to go to www.jgfuneralhome.com to view Eleanor's guest book, offer condolences and share memories.