Herbert & Margarete (Barrows) Thoresen

THORESEN, BARROWS, PICKERING, HAAKENSON

Posted By: Lynn Haakenson (email)
Date: 7/11/2019 at 11:31:32

Biography

Thoresen, Margarete (Barrows) 1904-1983
Thoresen, Herbert Carl died 1975

Margarete Barrows Thoresen was born February 23, 1904 to Edward Henry and Lucy Idella Pickering Barrows near Odebolt, Iowa, Sac County.

Her father was then overseer and manager of W.P. Adams Ranch near Odebolt. Margarete grew up living in Storm Lake and Whiting, Iowa. For a short time she lived in Omaha, Nebraska, near her grandparents, Philip and Lucy Pickering, and then in Montana on a large ranch. However due to the extreme cold, her father wished to leave there so they returned to the Midwest and settled in Missouri.

After a few years on a farm there, her mother, her sister Katherine and twin brothers Richard P. and Edward P. moved to Springfield, Missouri, where the children attended school. Margarete graduated from the Demonstrator school of the Southwest Missouri Normal School (Greenwood School).

The family wished to be together and moved to Ida County, Iowa, where Margarete's father had been station agent and telegrapher in Battle Creek for a number of years. Then Edward H. Barrows was employed by an investment company to run the three Bailey farms which had been purchased by them, so the family moved to the Bailey farm situated between Battle Creek and Ida Grove.

After graduation Margarete and her sister Katharine were employed by the Ida County Rural Schools, teaching near the farm. Each summer Margarete attended Cedar Falls Teachers College to further her education. The second year she taught near Richard Brosemili's home. Finishing this school year she moved to Farmersburg in Clayton County to teach.

She married Herbert Carl Thoresen on July 9, 1929.

Mr. Thoresen attended Cedar Rapids Business College and Cedar Falls Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa). He, with Margarete, worked for the Universal Producing Company of Fairfield, Iowa, for several years. They were then employed in New Jersey. He was in the hardware business for 36 years, first being in partnership with his uncle Edward Johnson, and then assuming full ownership.

In 1956 Herbert, Margarete, and their daughter Lynn Joanne (born April 28, 1941, now Mrs. Richard Haakenson of Osage, Iowa) moved to Monona, Iowa, where Margarete was teaching in the junior high school.

Herbert died on June 6, 1975. He was a member of the Farmersburg School Board, the Garden City United Methodist Church, Clayton Lodge No. 70 A.F. & A.M., and the Tri-City Golf Club. He is buried in the Monona City Cemetery.

Margarete, an avid book lover, was one of five women instrumental in establishing the library in Farmersburg. In Monona she was a librarian in the schools and on the city board which erected a new building for the Murphy Memorial Library. She was president and a member of the Board for 18 years. she also belonged to Fort Crawford Chapter of Daughters of American Revolution and the Garden City United Methodist church. Her other interests included antiques and bridge.

She died on February 18, 1983, and is buried in Monona City Cemetery.

They are survived by daughter and son-in-law Lynn and Richard Haakenson and two grandchildren, Scott, 13 and Julie, 8.