Lee Okeson

LeRoy (Lee) D. Okeson, 94, of Rancho Bernardo, CA, died June 25, 2024. Lee was born in 1930 in Dewey Township near Adams, North Dakota, the eldest of five siblings of Lewis and Selma (Peterson) Okeson. The family's farm was homesteaded in 1898 by his Swedish grandparents, Karl Fredrik and Hulda (Juhlin) Aakeson, and father Lewis. He attended a one-room primary school, high school in Fairdale, ND, and in 10th grade he left to work on the family farm due to his father's health. He was later drafted into the US Army during the Korean War. He was a proud alumnus of the University of North Dakota (BA Philosophy), and Southern Illinois University (MS). At a UND ice hockey game he met his sweetheart, Marlene Pfeifle, a teacher in nearby Minnesota. In San Diego, they met again and married in 1960, for 64 wonderful years together.

He retired as Deputy Director of Planning for the City of San Diego after 36 years. Lee was a planning consultant, chair of the RB Planning Board, and was a recipient of the RB Hall of Fame in 1998. In his support to UND, he received a Distinguished Alumni Award, and created a student scholarship fund. The Okeson Family Farm was a point of pride, and he established its Centennial status in 2003. He managed farmlands in North Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota.

His family and friends will miss his charming nature, smile, serving of Glogg, stories and jokes. We will remember his adventurous self, dancing with Marlene at the RB Country Club and Oaks North Dance Club, and long-distance driving their motorhome between San Diego and Adams. Lee was a president of the San Diego Ski Club, who into his 80's, delighted in alarming chairlift operators by asking whether their magnetic ticket readers would interfere with his defibrillator. He restored classic cars, tractors, boats, and was a licensed steam train engineer with the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum, and the Western Minnesota Antique Machinery Museum. He was a member of the Studebaker Drivers Club with his daring, lemon lime 1955 Studebaker Speedster.

Lee is survived by Marlene, their children: Scott (Kim), Jane Elliot (Brian), Kari Clark (Richard); grandchildren: Kyle (Mackenzie), Austin, Mason Clark, Rosemary Elliot (Wallace Fetzer), Milo Elliot; and great-grandchildren, Porter and Cole Okeson. Lee is preceded in death by his dear siblings, Milo (JoAnn), Glenn (Jeanne), Lila Mae Hamre (Leroy), Shirley Myrvik (Clifford), and Darlene Flaten (Amos).

Lee was involved with the North Dakota Gustavus Adolphus Swedish Lutheran Church, All Saints Lutheran Church, and Incarnation Lutheran Church, where a memorial service was held for him on June 30th, 2024.