Loren C. Thoreson

Loren C. Thoreson, age 91, Vienna died in the Good Samaritan Society Home at DeSmet on Friday morning, June 3, 2016.

Visitation will be held Tuesday, June 7, 2016 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at Vienna and will continue after 9:00 a.m. at the church Wednesday morning.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at Vienna. The Reverend's Keith Garness and Bryan Taffe will officiate.  The organist will be Dorothy Fuller with special music by the Bethlehem Quartet. Casketbearers will be his grandchildren. Burial will follow in the Pleasant Lutheran Cemetery near Vienna.

He was born on a farm in Hague Township, south of Clark, on May 11, 1925, the son of Trygve and Thora (Framstead) Thoreson. Loren attended the Pleasant Church School and then Willow Lake High School graduating in 1943. He continued helping at the family farm after graduation.

On November 19, 1949 he was united in marriage to Laurene Strohfus. The couple lived and farmed in the Willow Lake/Vienna communities since that time. Laurene died in March of 2014. Loren has remained on the farm until moving into the Good Samaritan Center in DeSmet this past February.

Farming was his passion although he still enjoyed time away from the farm, whether it be attending PRCA sponsored rodeos including Crystal Springs at Clear Lake or the National Finals in Las Vegas. He was an avid hunter, including pheasants, ducks and big game. When he was 75 years old, he went on an Elk hunt that required an 18 mile horseback ride into the camp. He gardened, being extremely proud of his radishes and his apple trees. In the community he has been involved on the township board, the Willow Lake Lions Club, Farm Bureau – attending several local and national conventions, and attending local lutefisk suppers.

Loren was an active member of his church, having served on the council at Pleasant Lutheran and then transferring his membership to Bethlehem Lutheran.

Preceding him in death were his parents, wife, a son, Dean Thoreson, and a sister, Minerva Hanson.

Grateful for having shared in his life are his children, John (JuLayne) Thoreson of Willow Lake and Barbara (Kim) Stevens of Lake Norden. He leaves 7 grandchildren, Tracee (Eric) Neuharth, Daniel (Lori) Stevens, Jennifer (Corey) Tellinghuisen, Melissa (Jay) LaBay, Lynnea (Justin) Seivert, Andrea (Trey) Nelson, and Jessica (fiancé Billy Scholl) Thoreson, and 6 great-grandchildren, Mayssa, Jaxson, Kate, Lillian, Preston, and Rhett.

Funeral arrangements are announced by the Furness Funeral Home at Clark where there is an online registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com .