Arlo Jaspersen

Funeral services for Arlo Jaspersen will be held at 10:30 AM on Thursday, May 2, 2019 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Albert Lea.  The Reverend Eileen Woyen will officiate.  Visitation will be held from 5 – 7 PM at Bonnerup Funeral Service on Wednesday, and again one hour prior to the service at the church.  Interment will be in Carlston Cemetery, rural Alden.

Arlo passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 27, 2019 at the Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea at the age of 93.

Arlo L. Jaspersen was born on December 3, 1925 in Franklin County, IA to Orrie and Ingeborg (Strandskov) Jaspersen.  He grew up in Iowa, where he helped on the family farm.  Arlo enlisted in the United States Navy and served his country from 1943 – 1946.  He did his basic training in Farragut, ID, and was then shipped to Darwin, Australia.  One memory he recalled while in Australia was overhauling torpedoes to put them back into function.  He was then shipped to different islands in the Pacific Ocean, and Eniwetok Islands.  It was there that testing for the atom bomb was taking place.

Arlo was married to Shirley (Dirksen).  Sadly, she would pass away at a young age.  On January 1, 1969, he was united in marriage to June (Huddleston  Manges) at Trinity Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.  The couple was blessed with 50 years together.

Arlo was an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church, serving on the council, Stephen Ministry, and was a Sunday school teacher.  Arlo was also a member of the ELKS, VFW, American Legion, and the Danish Brotherhood – and what a proud Dane he was!  Fishing, gardening, reading, and traveling the world were some of Arlo’s favorite memories.  The family will miss his smile, all the jokes that he played, and a saying he would often say: “You have to laugh to keep from crying.”

He will be missed by his wife, June; children, Dennis (Jean) Jaspersen, Kim Jaspersen, Gayle (Bradley) Harig, and Cris Jaspersen; grandchildren, Rachel (Jason) Miller, Elizabeth (Jason) Alvarado, and Sarah Harig; great-grandchildren, Bode and Reese Miller and Francisco and Leo Alvarado; siblings, Verna Smeby, Earl (Sharlene) Jaspersen, Esther Gilbertson, and Herluf Jaspersen; brothers and sisters in-law, Marlys Jaspersen, Ike Zeigler, Scott Huddleston, Arthur (Jean) Rendell, and John (Robbie) Rendell.

He is preceded in death by his first wife, Shirley; both parents; mother in-law, LouVada Hall; siblings, Lloyd Jaspersen, Alfa (Walter) Nickerson, Ervin (Velma) Jaspersen, Leo Jaspersen, and Harvey and Vernon Jaspersen in infancy; brothers and sister in-law, Betty Jasperson, Clayton Gilbertson, and Royden Smeby.

Memorials are preferred to the American Legion or Youth For Christ.

Blessed be his memory.