Ione B. Orr

Ione Orr passed into eternal life at age 98 on September 2, 2020 at Oak Ridge Memory Care with her daughter by her side. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, she will be cremated and a Celebration of Life will be held at a later, safer date. Ione B. (Gronlund) Orr was born on the Robert Montgomery farm near Wakonda, South Dakota on April 27, 1922 to Elmore and Marie (Birkley) Gronlund. She grew up on farms between Volin and Wakonda and attended the Oakdale one room school where she skipped first and second grade because she had learned that material along with her older brother before formally starting school. This meant that she graduated from Wakonda High School at 16 and had a 2 year teaching certificate at barely 18. She taught middle grade English for two years at Bronson, Iowa and afterwords returned to the University of South Dakota for two summers and the year between, receiving a Bachelors degree in Secondary Education with majors in English and Latin and a minor in her true love, mathematics, which was considered an unfit subject for a woman to major in at the time, in the summer of 1943. She did finally complete a Masters degree in Mathematics in 1968 from Fort Wright College of the Holy Names in Spokane, WA after many years of NSF summer schools around the country and night school classes in Spokane. After graduating from USD, Ione taught for a year in Sisseton, SD and a year in Yankton, SD before marrying her college sweetheart, J. Allen Orr, as soon as he returned in the spring of 1945 from his assignment as a bomber pilot in the South Pacific during WWII. They lived in Columbus, Ohio until Allen was mustered out of the service and then made their home in Sioux City, Iowa, where she taught for several years before starting a family. In 1956, Ione and her daughter, Jennie, moved to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where Ione taught at Coeur d'Alene Junior High for 4 years before transferring to Central Valley High School in the nearby Spokane (WA) Valley where she taught Honors Geometry, Algebra and pre-Calculus for 27 years and coached debate for 4 years, taking students to Nationals in 2 of those years. Her parents moved to Coeur d'Alene to live near her after selling their farm in South Dakota in 1967. After her father died in 1981, she moved in with her mother and cared for her until Marie died in 1993. In 1994, Ione moved to Hastings, Minnesota to live near her daughter and grandchildren. Her faith was very important to Ione. In Coeur d'Alene, she was active in Trinity Lutheran Church, where she taught the Bethel Bible Series for over 20 years and was one of the first women to be an ALC congregation president. Later in Coeur d'Alene she was a member of the Lutheran Church of the Master where she taught Senior High Sunday School. In Hastings, she was a member of St. Philips Lutheran Church where she wrote Sunday school material for the pre-confirmation students, led an adult weekday Bible study for years, was a youth Prayer Partner and Lenten Mentor and was known for sending cards to youth that were on the Honor Roll or otherwise recognized in the local newspaper. Other interests of Ione included Christian writing, especially of religious poetry, volunteering in the Hastings Public Schools, where she was Volunteer of the Year in 2002, shopping for Hastings Family Service, and doing genealogy. She learned enough Norwegian to read the Norwegian local genealogy books and took 2 trips to Sweden and Norway to do research and meet family there. She also loved to go to Birkley reunions every year in NE Nebraska. She wrote 6 volumes of her family's history, both in Scandinavia and the US, and gave copies to family members at the reunions. Ione is survived by her daughter, Jennie Orr Thomas (Dan Thomas) of Hastings, Minnesota, granddaughter, Lori Thomas, of Cambridge, MA, grandson, Joel Thomas, of Hastings, MN, sister-in-law, Marilyn Gronlund of Rapid City, South Dakota, cousins Agnes Boss of Albert Lea, MN and Milo (Phyllis) Birkley of Jackson, Nebraska and many nieces, nephews and more distant relatives. She was preceded in death by her parents, former husband, J. Allen Orr, brother Arden Gronlund, and many dear cousins. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Hastings Family Service or St. Philips Lutheran Church or the cause of your choice. Arrangements are being completed by Starkson Family Life Celebration Chapel of Hastings.