Tonetta "Nettie" Hansen

ALMONT -- Tonetta "Nettie" Hansen, 93, Almont, died March 29, 1999, in the New Salem nursing home. Services will be 2 p.m. MST Thursday at Almont United Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Van Vechten Crane officiating. Burial will be in Almont Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 2-3 p.m. MST today at Elm Crest Nursing Home, New Salem, and continue after 4 p.m. MST at Buehler-Larson Funeral Home Chapel, New Salem, and for one hour prior to the service on Thursday.

Tonetta Olson was born on Feb. 7, 1906, in the Curlew Valley of North Dakota, the daughter of Tobias and Olevine (Christiansen) Olson. She was baptized and confirmed at the Scandinavian Lutheran Church in Sims. She attended rural school and New Salem High School. As a child, she returned to live in Norway with her family twice, in 1910 and 1914. On May 28, 1927, at a double ceremony, at the Sims Evangelical Lutheran Church, Sims, Nettie and Norman Hansen were married along with her sister, Gertie, and Alfred Telford. They lived in New Salem before moving to the Hansen homestead in 1932, where they farmed until their retirement in 1969. She and Norman enjoyed a trip to Norway in June of 1972.

A member of Almont Lutheran Church and WELCA, Nettie was rarely seen with idle hands. She loved to crochet and quilt. She was also a member of the Almont Historical Society, the American Legion Auxiliary and Prairie Rose Senior Citizens.

A gentle lady, she cared deeply for the well-being of all other people, but particularly the children of her community. As long as she was able, she was a devoted babysitter; having cared for many young children from an early age on. She had been a resident of Elm Crest since October of 1997.

Nettie is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Gloria and Martin Doll, Almont; her former son-in-law, Harvey Thorson and his wife, Wilma, Almont; five grandchildren, Mary Jane Thorson, Bismarck, Gray Doll, Helena, Mont., Melanie Piluso and her husband, Charles, Livingston, Mont., Gail Arnold and her husband, Gale, Big Timer, Mont., and Marilyn Doll, Livingston; four great-grandchildren, Allison Divens, Andrea and Anthony Piluso and Justin and Michael Arnold; four sisters and two brothers-in-law, Gertie Tolford, Yucca Valley, Calif., Adeline and Bill Backsen, New Salem, Evangaline Monson, New Brunfels, Texas, and Winona and Robert McCoy, Washington, Penn.; one brother and sister-in-law, Reynold and Louise Olson, Mandan; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Norman, who died on Jan. 1, 1992; one daughter, Nathalie Thorson; one grandson, Douglas Thorson; six sisters, Ragna Olson, Goldie Schreiber, Helga Larson, Molly Nelson, Ida Olson and Lillian Hoffman; one brother, Arnold Olson; and infant twin siblings, Olevine and Tobias. (Buehler-Larson Funeral Home, Mandan)