Laurence Thompson
Laurence Thompson,
91, Minot, ND, formerly of
Glenburn, ND, passed
away Friday, July 8, 2016,
in a Minot hospital.
Laurence Thompson
was born September 28,
1924, the son of Norwegi-
an immigrants Olie and
Martha (Ovrevik) Thomp-
son, on the family farm in
Prescott Township, Ren-
ville County, Glenburn,
ND. He was raised and
educated in Glenburn and
graduated from Glenburn
Public School in 1943.
After the death of his fa-
ther, Laurence took over
farming the family farm at
the age of 17. He also be-
came interested in church
work and began singing
for weddings, which he
sang for all three of his
daughters and also for
funerals. Laurence also
held office as the town-
ship supervisor and
several positions in the
church throughout the
years.
Laurence sold the dairy
cows in 1948, due to a
lack of pasture. He also
bought the Glenburn
Hardware Store in Janu-
ary of 1948, which he
owned and operated until
June of 1950. In 1950,
Laurence also bought
some pasture land and re-
turned to farming and
raising cattle.
Laurence married Opal
Grondahl on June 27,
1948 in Glenburn. They
made their home in the
rural Glenburn area. From
this union, three
daughters were born: Peg-
gy, Phyllis and Donna
Jean.
Laurence attended
Veterinary School in the
late 1960s. He then went
into the cattle handling
equipment business in
1974.
In 1975 Laurence was
diagnosed by two dif-
ferent doctors with
farmer’s lung and was ad-
vised to slow down. Fol-
lowing doctors’ advice,
Laurence and Opal ex-
changed homes with their
daughter Phyllis and
son-in-law, Steve, and
moved to Minot in 1976.
They built their first
house in 1976 and lived
there until 1979. They
went on to build two
more homes and moved
into the second one in
1979.
He retired from farming
in 1982, and turned the
entire farming operation
over to Phyllis and Steve.
In 1985, Laurence suf-
fered a heart attack.
Laurence made four visits
to Norway to see family
and friends. In 1995 Opal
and his daughters were
able to travel with him as
well. They also traveled to
several states and Canada.
Over the years,
Laurence was a member
of Our Savior’s Lutheran
Church in rural Glenburn,
Hope Lutheran Church of
Glenburn, Zion Lutheran
Church and Christ Luth-
eran Church of Minot.
Laurence and Opal were
members of the Saka-
kawea Good Sam RV
Club. In addition he was
active with the Magic City
Lions, Golden Kiwanis,
Eagles Club, Elks Club
and the Sons of Norway.
In 1991, he joined the
Scandinavian Heritage
Association. He volun-
teered as the Chairman of
creating the Danish Mill,
waterfall and the road
signs advertising for the
Scandinavian Heritage
Park. Laurence also
worked as a funeral ser-
vice assistant for Thomp-
son-Larson Funeral Home
for a time and was a
volunteer at Trinity Hos-
pital of Minot. He was an
avid sports fan and fol-
lowed Minot High School
Sports and Minot State
University sporting events
enthusiastically, as well
as class B basketball.
After two more heart at-
tacks in 2010 and 2011,
Laurence and Opal decid-
ed to sell their house and
move to a home with less
yard maintenance. They
moved into a condomini-
um in 2012, for health
reasons they moved in
July of 2015 to assisted
living at Somerset.
After retirement,
Laurence took up the hob-
by of woodworking. He
worked with mainly oak
wood, and enjoyed creat-
ing a number of projects.
Over the years Laurence
and Opal volunteered at
several nursing homes by
singing and playing
music; an experience that
he found to be truly re-
warding.
Surviving family in-
cludes:
wife of 68 years, Opal
Thompson, Minot; Chil-
dren: Peggy (Dr. Bruce)
Hetland, Bismarck, ND,
Phyllis (Steve) Eldevik,
Glenburn, ND, Donna
Jean (Arden) Hetland,
Montgomery, TX; Eight
grandchildren: Eric Het-
land, Dr. Andrew (Melis-
sa) Hetland, Scott (Ange-
la) Hetland, Nick Hetland,
Brent Eldevik, Angela
(Kyle) Simonson, Laura
(Ritchey) Wheeler, Kristen
(Jordan) Porter; Eleven
great-grandchildren: Brett,
Annalise, Nathaniel,
Harper, Myles, Reid,
Matthew, Jacob, Shelden,
Wyatt, and Waylon;
numerous nieces,
nephews and cousins
Laurence was preceded
in death by his parents;
grandson, Bradley James
Hetland; brother, Tilman
(Marguerite) Thompson;
sisters, Clara (Cliff) Grif-
fin, Louise (Shorty)
Marum, Pearl (Lester)
Christianson and Mae
(Stuart) Olson.
Funeral: Wednesday,
July 13, 2016, at 11:00 am
at Christ Lutheran
Church, Minot, ND.
Graveside Service:
Wednesday at 1:30 pm at
Sunset Memorial Gar-
dens, Minot, ND.
Visitation: Tuesday
from 2 until 6 pm at
Thompson-Larson Fun-
eral Home, Minot, ND,
with the family receiving
visitors from 4 until 6 pm.
Those wishing to sign
the online register and
share memories may ac-
cess the online obituaries
section at
