Individual Details
Oliver Theodore Floren
(4 Sep 1902 - 12 Oct 1989)
Vikor Church 125th Anniversary Book (1996)
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Accident
Jan. 16th, 1912. Dovre, Oliver Floren the only son of Mr. and Mrs. John Floren was severely hurt some time ago by coming in contact with a gasoline engine. He was bruised about the head. Dr. Peterson was called twice and at this writing he is improving nicely. Melvin Alvig was working at Floren's at that time and said they were grinding feed when they seem a lunch of hair come around on the belt. Oliver must have gotten his head too close to the belt.
Vikor Church 125th Anniversary Book (1996)
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Floren-Nelson Wedding Wednesday
June 11, 1931. Wednesday morning at 11 o'clock at the parsonage of the Vinje Lutheran church in this city, Miss Gertrude C. Nelson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ole Nelson, 917 Fourth Street East, was united in marriage with Mr. Oliver Floren, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Floren, also of the Willmar community. The Reverend Arnt Vaaler read the marriage service in the presence of only immediate relatives.
The bride, who was graduated from Willmar high school this year was married in her graduation gown of pink flowered crepe.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Wickstrom of Litchfield were the bridal attendants. Mrs. Wickstrom wore a dress of green voiel.
After the ceremony was performed a wedding dinner was served at the home of the bride's parents, a cluster of deep pink roses centering the dinner table. Guests at the dinner included only immediate relatives in which number were Mr. and Mrs. Ole Amundson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, uncle and aunt to the bride.
Mr. and Mrs. Floren will make their home in the Willmar community.
Vikor Church 125th Anniversary Book (1996)
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Floren's Mammoth Oak is No More
Aug. 15, 1946. Big tree at Eagle Lake made into lumber at Johnson's sawmill. The Monarch has fallen. The big oak that grew on Oliver Floren's timber lot in the Eagle Lake woods is now sawed up to lumber. The tree was said to be the largest oak, or at least one of the largest oaks, in Kandiyohi county.
Mr. Floren and his father are, we are sure, lovers of trees, which is testified to by the fine timber he yet has standing, but the dry spell which we had had some years ago was heard on this ancient rajah of the woods. It clung to life, however, until a year or two ago when if finally died, and recently Mr. Floren had it cu down to be sawed into lumber.
Word was received one day last week that the sawing of these big logs was to start and the Willmar Daily Tribune boys drove out and took a photograph of the first log as it lay on the carrier of the saw.
John M. Johnson, who operates the sawmill, told us that the bottom log measured 39 inches in diameter and 10 feet and 2 inches in circumference. It took two of his men a half hours' sawing with a cross-cut saw to fell the tree, and that was doing pretty good at that, we would say. Counting the rings in the grain, Johnson decided the tree was about 400 years old.
Vikor Church 125th Anniversary Book (1996)
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Oliver Floren
Oct. 13, 1989. Oliver T. Floren, 87, of Spicer, and formerly of Willmar, died Thursday at Rice Memorial Hospital. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Hope Presbyterian Church of Spicer, with burial in Solomon Lake Cemetery, rural Willmar.
Visitation will be from 5 to 9 p.m. today, and from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, at Green Lake Funeral Home in Spicer, and one hour prior to the funeral at the church.
He was born Sept. 4, 1902, in Willmar, the son of John and Signe Floren. He attended District 48 School in rural Willmar. On June 10, 1931, he married Gertrude Nelson in Willmar. He farmed for many years in the Willmar area, and also worked for Hy Steel and as a mechanic. He also served as treasurer for the Willmar Township Board. The wife preceded him in death in 1983. On April 21, 1985, he married Mabel Larson in Apple Valley.
He is survived by his wife, Mabel; one son, James of Willmar; two daughters, Janet Schmidt of Becker, and Jean Honken of Whitby, Canada; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Besides his first wife, he was preceded in death by his parents.
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Accident
Jan. 16th, 1912. Dovre, Oliver Floren the only son of Mr. and Mrs. John Floren was severely hurt some time ago by coming in contact with a gasoline engine. He was bruised about the head. Dr. Peterson was called twice and at this writing he is improving nicely. Melvin Alvig was working at Floren's at that time and said they were grinding feed when they seem a lunch of hair come around on the belt. Oliver must have gotten his head too close to the belt.
Vikor Church 125th Anniversary Book (1996)
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Floren-Nelson Wedding Wednesday
June 11, 1931. Wednesday morning at 11 o'clock at the parsonage of the Vinje Lutheran church in this city, Miss Gertrude C. Nelson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ole Nelson, 917 Fourth Street East, was united in marriage with Mr. Oliver Floren, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Floren, also of the Willmar community. The Reverend Arnt Vaaler read the marriage service in the presence of only immediate relatives.
The bride, who was graduated from Willmar high school this year was married in her graduation gown of pink flowered crepe.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Wickstrom of Litchfield were the bridal attendants. Mrs. Wickstrom wore a dress of green voiel.
After the ceremony was performed a wedding dinner was served at the home of the bride's parents, a cluster of deep pink roses centering the dinner table. Guests at the dinner included only immediate relatives in which number were Mr. and Mrs. Ole Amundson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, uncle and aunt to the bride.
Mr. and Mrs. Floren will make their home in the Willmar community.
Vikor Church 125th Anniversary Book (1996)
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Floren's Mammoth Oak is No More
Aug. 15, 1946. Big tree at Eagle Lake made into lumber at Johnson's sawmill. The Monarch has fallen. The big oak that grew on Oliver Floren's timber lot in the Eagle Lake woods is now sawed up to lumber. The tree was said to be the largest oak, or at least one of the largest oaks, in Kandiyohi county.
Mr. Floren and his father are, we are sure, lovers of trees, which is testified to by the fine timber he yet has standing, but the dry spell which we had had some years ago was heard on this ancient rajah of the woods. It clung to life, however, until a year or two ago when if finally died, and recently Mr. Floren had it cu down to be sawed into lumber.
Word was received one day last week that the sawing of these big logs was to start and the Willmar Daily Tribune boys drove out and took a photograph of the first log as it lay on the carrier of the saw.
John M. Johnson, who operates the sawmill, told us that the bottom log measured 39 inches in diameter and 10 feet and 2 inches in circumference. It took two of his men a half hours' sawing with a cross-cut saw to fell the tree, and that was doing pretty good at that, we would say. Counting the rings in the grain, Johnson decided the tree was about 400 years old.
Vikor Church 125th Anniversary Book (1996)
(Article from Willmar Tribune)
Oliver Floren
Oct. 13, 1989. Oliver T. Floren, 87, of Spicer, and formerly of Willmar, died Thursday at Rice Memorial Hospital. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Hope Presbyterian Church of Spicer, with burial in Solomon Lake Cemetery, rural Willmar.
Visitation will be from 5 to 9 p.m. today, and from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, at Green Lake Funeral Home in Spicer, and one hour prior to the funeral at the church.
He was born Sept. 4, 1902, in Willmar, the son of John and Signe Floren. He attended District 48 School in rural Willmar. On June 10, 1931, he married Gertrude Nelson in Willmar. He farmed for many years in the Willmar area, and also worked for Hy Steel and as a mechanic. He also served as treasurer for the Willmar Township Board. The wife preceded him in death in 1983. On April 21, 1985, he married Mabel Larson in Apple Valley.
He is survived by his wife, Mabel; one son, James of Willmar; two daughters, Janet Schmidt of Becker, and Jean Honken of Whitby, Canada; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Besides his first wife, he was preceded in death by his parents.
Events
| Birth | 4 Sep 1902 | Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota | |||
| Christen | 26 Oct 1902 | Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, Vikor Church |  | ||
| Marriage | 10 Jun 1931 | Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota - Gertrude Nelson | |||
| Marriage | 21 Apr 1985 | Apple Valley, Minnesota - Mabel Larson | |||
| Death | 12 Oct 1989 | | |||
| Burial | Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, Vikor Cemetery |
Families
| Spouse | Gertrude Nelson (1914 - ) |
| Child | James Marvin Floren |
| Child | Janet Floren |
| Child | Jean Floren |
| Spouse | Mabel Larson |
| Father | John (Joseph) Floren (1868 - ) |
| Mother | Signe Gurine Thompson (1867 - 1957) |
Endnotes
1. Baptism.
2. Minnesota Dept. of Health, Death Certificate .