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Laurel Arlene Rosaasen was born on June 29, 1931 on the SW 36-35-6 W2 and she was the ninth child in the family of Henry and Amanda Rosaasen.
Howard Rosaasen would be the tenth child and now is Laurel's only living sibling. Laurel grew up on a farm with horses and milk cows and other farm animals. She attended a one room school at North Prairie and went to LCBI in Outlook for high school. She played sports, piano, other musical instruments, and she developed her hunting skills.
Laurel married her only love, Odd Jostein Steistol on October 28, 1950.
They lived about four miles north of the Rosaasen farm on Pifer's quarter where there was a small house and a barn along an active creek with lots of beavers and wildlife. Both Odd and Laurel were accomplished hunters and trappers but the beavers, elk, deer and moose remain on Pifer's as they didn't get them all!
Laurel and Odd moved to “The Bush” on a homestead next to the Greenwater Lake Provincial Park. Odd was employed as a Forest Ranger and viewed the region for forest fires from a massive tower that us kids got to climb!
Laurel was a homemaker who could rise to any challenge! Visitors were always welcome and her saying was “there is always room for one more!”
She could whip up a meal in no time flat and there was always had a huge food supply with their successful hunting and the mega garden.
Laurel loved to socialize and after a lively visit over the meal, she would often sit down to the piano and lead a great singsong. She was a talented musician who played by ear. She also played the accordion, guitar and the spoons. She would have the group laughing wildly with her Norwegian monologues and her numerous Ole and Lena jokes. Some Norwegian words stuck with her: If you got stuck in the field it was UFFDA! If you burned the potatoes it was UFFDA!
Woodworking and hunting were two of Laurel's passions. She had carpentry skills and built barns, grain bins, machine sheds and many other buildings on the farm. She loved to work in her wood working shop where she made all kinds of lawn ornaments, bird houses, corner shelves and cedar chests for her grandchildren 's graduation and for other recipients.
Laurel and Odd were hunters and trappers and worked together in preparing the furs for market. They would do an excellent job on coyotes, fox, lynx, fishers and timber wolves and they achieved top dollars at the fur action markets.
Laurel loved hunting and had more time to hunt after all the children had left home. She shot numerous deer but her pride and joy was the spike bull elk which she shot and had dressed by the time her companions finished pushing the big bush. She also shot a big black bear in the spring of the year as he came out of his den. She had many great hunting stories!
Laurel was active in her church and community. She was Secretary of the Swampy Lake School Board, treasurer of the Porcupine Plain Evangelical Lutheran Women and a member of the Chelan Seniors Entertainment group.
Laurel loved to travel. There were numerous fishing trips to Northern Saskatchewan. She spent a couple of weeks in London England (Canterbury) with Cindy and Randy, a trip to Reno, Virginia City over to San Francisco and up the 101 scenic highway to Squamish, BC. On a trip to California to visit her oldest brother Harold, Jerry Rosaasen, her nephew planned a trip to Norway where she was able to visit the original Rosaasen and Steiestol Farms. She went to Minot to attend the annual Norwegian Hochfest celebration as well as visiting Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Nashville. Laurel attended the North Bay Ontario annual trappers festival where they put their name in a draw and won a canoe! They were teased that they would have to canoe back to Saskatchewan like the original trappers did.
She loved to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, play scrabble and boggle and often came up with new words which would make everyone laugh. Now a lot of those words are in the new scrabble dictionary. Laurel was always up for a game of Rook, Whist or Canasta.
She enjoyed her grandchildren and great grandchildren’s activities such as hockey, football, baseball, drama and dance. With a total of forty eight of them there was plenty of opportunity to cheer!
Laurel's Christian faith was very strong and very important in the upbringing of her family. Many a life lesson was taught while performing the daily chores. She had an ability to take God's word and inject His lessons and wisdom into their lives. These later years she had more time to spend in God's word. She had tapes and CD’s of the entire Bible which she would listen to every day. She was a shining light with her love for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Laurel's loving family were with her in the hospital during her final hours. She addressed them all by name before she peacefully passed away.
Her life and how she touched each of us is a cause for celebration.
Laurel was predeceased by her husband of 35 years Odd Jostein Steiestol. She is survived by her loving sons, Orval (Terry), and Barry (Allison), daughters, Arlene (Lenard) Teale, Cheryl (Bud) Sabean, Gleniss (Murray) Osecki, Ardith (Steve) Kwiatkowski, Maxine (Dean) Lanning, and Cindy (Randall) Kehrig, 22 Grandchildren, and 26 Great-Grandchildren, as well as numerous relatives and friends.