Jolene Bjelland, 70
Jolene Bjelland passed away Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, at the Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
Jolene was born Sept. 6, 1947, in Minot, North Dakota. She graduated from Minot High School in 1966.
She married Norman Bjelland on April 15, 1967, and moved west to Kila. Norman and Jolene celebrated 50 years of marriage this past spring.
While raising three young boys, Jolene’s passion for kids led her to operate a day-care business out of her home. As her boys entered elementary school, Jolene followed them to Cornelius Hedges Elementary and worked as a teacher’s aide. Jolene was a den mother for the Boy Scouts, BMX racing mom, and Babe Ruth Baseball pit coach. Jolene’s continued enjoyment of working with children led her to employment as a secretary at Helena Flats School before she joined her husband as the partner and bookkeeper in their business Montana Gold Bullet Company, where she worked until her death.
Jolene was preceded in death by her sister Marlene, and her parents, Joseph and Teresa Mickelson.
She is survived by her husband, Norman Bjelland; sisters Barbara Wenger, Betty Erickson, Shirley Dassenko and Gloria Endsley, and her brother Jerome Mickelson, all of Minot. She is also survived by her sons, Leif Bjelland and his children Hunter and Kale, Alf Bjelland and his children Justen and Gwenneth, and Jason and Jen Bjelland and their children Ty and Avery.
Jolene will be missed and not forgotten. A poem found in her work desk (unknown author):
I’m Free
Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free,
I’m following the path God laid for me.
I took his hand when I heard his call,
I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to work, to play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
I’ve found that peace at the close of the day.
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
Ah yes, these things I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My Life’s been full, I savored much,
Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch,
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,
Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me,
God wanted me now, He set me free.