Ona Harpestad

Ona Ballsrud Harpestad, age 91, of Champaign, IL, passed away peacefully on August 16, 2021. She was born on September 23, 1929, in La Crosse, Wisconsin the first child of Charles (Stub) and Olga Ballsrud (nee Brown). A wandering child, Ona grew up in Westby, WI, but frequently walked or hopped the freight trains to Cashton to visit her beloved Grandpa Brown. After graduating from Westby High school in 1947, she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. She married Gerhard William Harpestad on September 10, 1949, expecting to marry into dairy farming but instead marrying into academia. Three children followed in the next few years, and a fourth was born after the family relocated to Champaign-Urbana, IL. There, Ona spent time as a full-time mother until her youngest was five and accomplished her longtime dream of going to college. Ona graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Sciences but was not satisfied until she obtained her master’s degree from UIUC in Home Economics in 1973. Throughout the years Ona immersed herself in ranging interests, including raising fish, square dancing, designing houses, knitting, making jewelry, collecting cow figurines, and selling real estate. Notably, Ona was also one of the first adopters of the personal computer, purchasing a Compaq ‘portable’ computer in 1983, one of the first IBM PC compatible computers. It weighed 28 pounds and cost $3,000. However, Ona’s true passion was Norwegian genealogy, spending more than 50 years slowly tapping deeper and deeper family roots. In her work, she translated and transcribed many birth and death records from the Old Country, both spreading her family tree and making fundamental contributions to others’ genealogical efforts. In addition to acting as a mentor to many in the genealogical community, she was an active member in Romerikslaget i Amerika, serving as Vice President for Membership from 1995-2000 and Vice President for Genealogy from 2000-2005. She was also a member of Nordmanns Forbundet, Westby’s Solvang Lodge 5-457 of the Sons of Norway, and of Vesterheim – The Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah Iowa. She will be sorely missed by her brother Clyde (Judy) Ballsrud; her four children, Alicia (Steve) Deschene, Charles Harpestad, Cynthia (Geoffrey) Shropshire, and Kari (David) Couch; eight grandchildren, Amanda Deschene, and Jessica Wilkes (nee Deschene), Kristina (Ray) Combs (nee Shropshire), Benjamin Shropshire, and Rebecca (Jordan) Nelson (nee Shropshire), Amy (Mark) Newton (nee Couch), Sarah (Eric) Alston (nee Couch), and Nathan Couch; 15 great-grandchildren Natalya, Pierce, Lara, and Amelia Wilkes, Calvin, Logan, Evelyn, and Wesley Combs, Cassius, Kajsa, Leif, and Maja Nelson, Archer and Dashiell Newton, and Persephone Alston. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and sister Charlotte (Jim) Sneyd. In her later years, Ona struggled with and eventually succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. Those wishing to contribute to her memory are asked to make donations to aid in fighting this brutal disease. A private service will be held at Westby Coon Prairie cemetery in Westby, Wisconsin. Online condolences may be expressed at http://www.vossfh.com. Vosseteig Funeral Home of Westby is serving the family.