Genevieve Rasmussen

Genevieve Irene Rasmussen was born on September 2, 1930 to James and Mae Peterson at home in Starkweather, North Dakota. She had one older brother, Don. When she was five the family moved to Langdon, North Dakota, and then to Belgrade, Minnesota, where she graduated from Hamline University. While there she met Jim Rasmussen who attended Augsburg College.
They were married on June 23, 1951 at the Belgrade Methodist Church. In August of 1952, during the Korean Conflict, Jim was called to active duty from the Nacy Reserve. In September, Gen began teaching first grade at Snail Lake School in Mounds View. When Jim came home from the Navy, they lived in Minneapolis where Val and Kirk were born. They then moved to Fridley where Randy was born and where they continued to live until, after Jim's death, Gen moved up north for a few years. She returned to the Minneapolis area in 2006 when her health was failing.
Gen was an elementary teacher, a substitue teacher, and a teacher of homebound students. She went back to college to get her Master's Degree and then taught Special Education at Fridley High School until she retired in 1992.
Gen was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She truly enjoyed music. She played the piano and for awhile gave piano lessons. She sang with the church choir, The Fireside Singers, and played handbells as well as playing the ukulele, recorder and autoharp. Going camping and spending time at Horseshoe Lake or at the acreage at Mille Lacs were favorite things to do with Jim, the children, and grandchildren. Gen was gifted in making quilts, knitting, sewing and doing other handcrafts. She was also an animal lover, an advocate for those who were handicapped, and a volunteer to record books on tape for the blind.
Gen, Jim and their children joined St. Philip's in 1968 and were very faithful and active members, remaining friends with several st. Philip's members until her death on August 13, 2011. Jim died October 21, 1988. On June 7, 1977 she married Arthur Vogel.
She was preceded in death by her husband, James and by Arthur. She is survived by her children: Valerie and husband Timothy Bushnell of Duluth; Kirk and wife Beth of Fridley; and Randy and wife Paula of Minneapolis; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; brother Donovan Peterson of Crosby; sister-in-law Joyce Moen of Mahtomedi; and many other family and friends. Funeral Service will be 11 am on Wednesday at St. Philip's Lutheran Church, 6180 Hwy 65 NE, Fridley with visitation 1 hour prior to the service at church. Interment Morningside Memorial Gardens, Coon Rapids, MN
God bless her memory