Services for Gary Thorson,
Mon, 04/21/2025 - 3:13pm
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Gary Thorson, 85, died on Friday. April 18, 2025, at his home at Bagley, Minnesota.
Funeral services for Gary will be held on Friday, April 25, 2025, at the Zion Lutheran Church at Bagley, Minnesota at 11:00 am with Pastor Jeremy Davies officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the services at the church. Gary’s final resting place will be at the Zion Lutheran Cemetery at Bagley, Minnesota.
Gary was born at home on the family homestead in Eddy Township on October 11, 1939. He lived nearly his entire life and died on or within a half mile of the homestead. He loved to reminisce and tell stories from his childhood. Gary fondly recalled being five years old and having a bit of a crush on a favorite neighbor girl. Sadly, for him, the feeling wasn’t mutual so the girl’s sisters held her down in a wheelbarrow so he could kiss her! (That story has a happy ending though. Fast forward 30 plus years and that neighbor girl, Nancy Ysen, had a change of heart. Nancy and Gary married and had two girls!) Many stories Gary would tell were about life in BS Valley with his four brothers and they were often up to no good. One year the boys ate their Christmas treats early and got nothing in their stockings! For an entire winter they skipped school. They left home each day as expected and played in the woods until the sun’s shadow got to the right spot telling them it was time to go home and pretend like they had been at school all day. That came to an end when the superintendent of the country schools stopped by the farm to see why the Thorson boys had stopped coming to school. Once, when their parents had gone to town, they ate all the chocolate Ex-Lax and learned the hard way that was a terrible idea! They rolled down hills in tires until they were sick and played horse sticks all over the neighborhood. In the winter they went sledding and built forts in the woods. When Gary was a teenager, he bought his first car. It was a blue 1951 Chevy Coup. He really loved that car because he could go as far as his gas money would take him!
Gary attended country school until 8th grade and then went to Bagley High School until he was a sophomore. He was a jack of all trades. One of his first jobs as a kid was working for a neighbor doing chores for 50 cents a week. On Saturdays he would go to town with them for ice cream treats. As a teenager, he worked in Bagley as a pulp peeler and in the woods cutting pulp. Gary enlisted in the US Air Force in 1957 and served until 1963. He was stationed in Louisiana, California, and Thule Greenland, and worked inside the telephone maintenance office. After serving in the military, he returned home and worked as a deck hand on the Edmond Fitzgerald, did construction, piece cutting pulp near Red Lake after marrying Nancy (and the two of them were often the top cutting team), worked a variety of jobs at the kiln dry in Bagley, collected garbage, and operated the Clearwater Landfill. Gary’s passion and main job was always farming though, and he happily did that until death. He had a way with animals and really enjoyed caring for them.
Gary was a naturally gifted musician, and he especially loved bluegrass. He bought a guitar when he was 13 and taught himself to play. He played entirely by ear and could mess around with any instrument for a few moments and play you a tune. His stringed instrument collection was vast, and he enjoyed entertaining with his friends in the BS Valley Band. Throughout the day and when he couldn’t sleep, he would sit at the table and quietly pick at his banjo or guitar. Music brought him happiness and contentment. Gary loved playing cards and was always ready for a game of cribbage, 31, or pinochle. Being very mechanical in nature with a healthy dose of common sense, he could get any machine running and kept busy tinkering all the time. He was extremely proud of his Norwegian heritage and didn’t speak English until he started school. His accent was proof. He could calm any fussy baby. His patience seemed endless, and it is hard to say if he ever got angry or frustrated. If he was, it never showed. He never complained. He worked hard, was good for a laugh (often at his own expense- have you ever seen his Norwegian chain saw?), and enjoyed the company of others. He was quick to grab the coffee pot and a sweet treat when anyone arrived, and most visits at the Thorson farm have probably lasted way longer than originally intended. He was one-of-a-kind in the most humble, easy-going, curious, and gentle way. Gary will really be missed.
Gary is survived by his wife – Nancy Thorson of Bagley, Minnesota
Daughter – Starlett (Jacob Dahn) Thorson of Elko New Marker, MN
Daughter – Tonya (Robb) Lindbery of Bagley, Minnesota
Son – Billy (Nadine) Klasse of Clearbrook, Minnesota
Daughter – Pamela (Fred Ettish) Klasse of North Kansas City, Missouri
Son – Darren Klasse of Overland Park, Kansas
Twelve grandchildren
Fifteen great-grandchildren
Gary was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers – Thelmar, Arvid, Gerald, Lyle and Dennis; Children – Robert Klasse and Michael Klasse
