Opal Smaaladen

Opal T. Smaaladen, 91, passed away Saturday, March 9, 2024, at Aneta Parkview Health Center in Aneta, ND. Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 16, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. at the Bilden-Askew Funeral Home in Northwood, ND. A visitation will be held from 12:00 p.m. until the time of the service at the funeral home.

Opal T. Smaaladen was born June 2, 1932, in Grand Forks, ND, the daughter of Oscar and Tilly Ekren. She was raised in Grand Forks. Opal married Gerald Larson on October 9, 1950, in East Grand Forks, MN. They lived and farmed in Field Township. She moved off the farmstead in 1980 after Gerald’s death from a farm accident in the fall of 1978.

Opal moved to Northwood and worked as a nurses’ aide. She married Allen Smaaladen on June 14, 1986, and moved the to the farmstead north of Aneta until the late 1990’s.

She loved being a farmer’s wife and nurses’ aide. She also loved puppies and cats. Opal always had a place at the dinner table when somebody would stop by the farm.

She will be remembered and missed by her four sons: Glen (Rosalie) Larson, Fosston, MN; Gordon Larson; Quentin (Nadine) Larson, Hankinson, ND; and Vernon Larson, Crookston, MN.

She is preceded in death by her son, Roger; husbands, Gerald Larson and Allen Smaaladen; her parents; brothers: Tony, Obert, Bill and Lawrence; and sister, Betty Storbakken.