Obituary of Muriel Olsen Lundgren

Our mother, Muriel Olsen Lundgren, was born January 1st 1928. She was the ninth and last child born to Sofie and Matt Olsen.

While growing up, Cindy, Cathy and I heard many happy stories about the family centered neighborhood she grew up in on 63rd Avenue West with her 8 sisters and brothers. Mom attended Denfeld where she was in the Honor Court and served as the editor of The Oracle, the Denfeld Yearbook. She graduated Denfeld in 1946 and met our father Dick “Red” Lundgren in 1948 in Duluth. They married on October 13, 1950, and raised their family (son Mark, and twin daughters Cindy and Cathy) in Lakeside on Cooke St. While raising the family, mom also worked outside the home for many years and in 1980 she retired from the State of Minnesota Employment Office. Dad also retired in 1980 from the Post Office as a mail carrier in Lakeside.

In 1990, due to dad’s deteriorating health, they moved from the home they had lived in for 30 years to an apartment on Park Point where mom lived out the rest of her life. When our dad died in 1991, mom, as she often said, “made a new life for herself.” She began volunteering in St. Mary’s hospice unit, a calling she continued for 15 years. She also volunteered for several years at the YWCA Child Care Center, all the while making new friends and spending time ice skating, a favorite pastime that she enjoyed until she hung up her skates at age 75.

Mom was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, brothers George, Stanley, Marvin, and Ralph, and sister Borghild, Ruth, Doris, and Norma. She is survived by twin daughters Cindy Lundgren-Chicha and Cathy Lundgren of Duluth, and son Mark of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Per Muriel’s request, there will be no service.