Noreen M. (Abraham) Clasen

Noreen M. Clasen, age 88, of Alexandria, died unexpectedly on Thursday, October 13, 2022, at Alex Assisted Living. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Monday, October 17th at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Villard, with Rev. Ryan Pumphrey officiating. Visitation will be at the church, one hour prior to the service. Interment will be in St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery, rural Villard. Arrangements are with Hoplin-Hitchcock Funeral Home of Glenwood.

Noreen Marcella Abraham was born November 4, 1933, in Grove Lake, MN. She was second of four children born to parents Richard and Viola (Schroeder) Abraham. She grew up on a farm near Grove Lake along with her brother, Wally, and sisters, Jane and Jeanine. Noreen was baptized and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Grove Lake. She attended district school through the 8th grade and then Glenwood High School, where she graduated with the class of 1951. Before marriage, Noreen was employed at Gambles, Coast to Coast hardware store and the Register of Deeds office in Glenwood.

On February 9, 1955, Noreen was united in marriage to John Donald Clasen, of Villard, at Trinity Lutheran in Grove Lake. The first two years of their marriage they made their home in Colorado Springs, CO, where Donald was serving in the U.S. Army and Noreen found work at a factory. After Donald’s honorable discharge, the pair moved back to Minnesota, where they settled on a farm by Villard for the next 60 years. There they were blessed with their daughter, Cheryl, and a few years later, their son, John.

Noreen was a longtime member of St. John's Lutheran Church in Villard where she taught Vacation Bible School, Wednesday Release Time, and she was active in the Ladies Aid and LWML for many years. Her hobbies included reading, knitting, and playing cards with family and friends. Noreen loved cats and typically had one or two house cats plus several more barn cats during her years on the farm. She was also fond of hummingbirds.

In 2020, Noreen became a resident at Alex Assisted Living, where she usually had a warm smile for staff and visitors. During her time as a resident, she enjoyed participating in bingo, craft projects, and Bible study. It was there that she was unexpectedly called to Heaven in the early morning hours of Thursday, October 13, 2022.

Noreen will be lovingly remembered by her daughter, Cheryl Clasen of Alexandria; her son, John Clasen of Lowry; her two sisters, Jane (Paul) Engene and Jeanine Vesledahl, two sisters-in-law, Elaine Abraham and Elsie (Al) Husom; and brother-in-law, Corky Krogstad; along with nieces, nephews, cousins, grandnieces and grandnephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband’s parents; her husband, Donald (in 2016); her brother, Wally Abraham; two sisters-in-law, Marilyn Rabehl and JoAnne Krogstad; brother-in-law, Jim Rabehl; and a nephew, Kent Rabehl.

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