Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Waara, Olafia  "Ola" (Gudmunsson) September 24, 2004
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Patricia Currigan currigan1932@comcast.net January 16, 2022, 5:52 pm

Portland Revue - Sunday October 3, 2004

Olafia Waara
Olafia "Ola" Waara, 88 of Portland passed away Sept. 24, 2004.

She was born in a earthen home in rural Iceland July 2, 1916 without electricity 
or running water. Her family got their fresh water from streams fed by snow 
melted off the glaciers. her father was Sigurbjorn Gudmunsson and mother Lilja 
Kristen Arnadottie. She was very proud of her Viking heritage and could trace 
her ancestry to the original Viking settlers of Iceland.

Ola met her husband, Robert "Bob" Waara, at a golf course in Iceland where he 
was stationed in the Army during WW II. Ola was a fierce competitor, and was 
Iceland's women's golf champion for a number of years during the early 1940's. 
On Dec. 7, 1944 she moved to the U.S. where she and her husband owned and 
operated the Portland country Club from 1954-1974. Ola believed in unconditional 
love and forgiveness. She always believed in her children and grandchildren. She 
was a loyal, strong, supportive, and accepting friend. She also was a skilled 
artist and craftspersons shown by her hand-woven rugs. Education was vitally 
important to her, and she loved reading. Ola was also energetic, resolute, and a 
tireless worker. Children and pets loved her.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Robert in 1975; and siblings, 
Helga, Johann, Olaf, Svava, and Finnur.

She is survived by son, Norman (Lleana) Waara of Sarasota, Fla.; daughters, 
Lilya Waara (Donald King) of East Lansing, and Lola (Kendall) Leonard of 
Portland grandsons Geogf Waara of Mt.Dora, Fla., Derek (Kelly) Pline of 
Bloomfield township. Rory Pline of Portlnd, Benjamin Gyger serving in the U.S 
Navy in Panama City Fla., step-granddaughter Jennifer Leonard of Kentwood; 
great-grandson, Carson Pline of Bloomfield township, brother and sister in 
Iceland, Steinar and Hildur; sister-in-law, Catherine Jansen of Garden City; and 
many nieces and nephews.

As per her wishes, she will be cremated and her ashes will be scattered in a 
private ceremony at her former home in Iceland at a later date. Special thanks 
to her beloved neighbors, Mark and Toni Goodman, Pastor Ed Filter of St.Andrew 
Lutheran Church in Portland, the staff at Nottingham Place, Hospice of Lansing, 
numerous friends and neighbor. We thank God for giving such a loving, caring 
mother. She will be missed, but never forgotten.

Arrangements were entrusted to the Schrauben-Lehman Funeral Home, Portland. 
Online condolences may be at www.schraubenlehman.com.

Contributions may be made to the Portland Pubic Library or Hospice of Lansing.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/w/waara42106nob.txt

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