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current.mnsun.com Bloomington • Richfield Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 Page 5 Obituaries Glen Conrad Oveson Your mother does not work here Back in my working days, I really enjoyed my commitments as a full- time editor and manager. However, I also inherited the role of part-time of- fi ce mom. I will confess that was not my favorite. I hated being the nag- ging voice about offi ce etiquette, but sometimes it had to be done. I was indeed the voice behind those “your mother doesn’t work here” notes that showed up in the offi ce kitchen. “If you make a mess, clean it up!” “If you use a plate, wash it and put it back in the cupboard.” Or in the restrooms: “Refi ll the toilet paper when empty. PLEASE!!!!” On occasion, my notes got a bit hostile. I remem- ber once when someone had reheated spaghetti and sauce in the micro- wave. You know what spaghetti sauce does to the inside of a micro- wave? One royal, red, splotchy mess! After a stern warning that I might just pack up the microwave if it happens again, the note would invariably end with “Your mother does not work here.” It’s been a little more than a year since I’ve written a terse note to my co-workers, but I am PEGGY BAKKEN ECM Publishers Peggy Bakken is a former executive editor for APG-East Central Minnesota. Reactions welcome: [email protected]. starting to feel compelled to start them up again, this time to a much larger group of laggards. Retirement lifestyle means lots of travel, lunches at dives or high- end destinations and road trips. That means a lot of bathroom stops – fast food restaurants, roadside oases, freeway rest stops, visitor centers, information kiosks, mu- seums, art galleries and on and on. I am at a loss to under- stand why anyone using a public restroom feels the need to leave rolls of toilet paper on the fl oor. Why does someone dump a hand towel on the fl oor instead of in the garbage receptacle that is 12 inch- es away? I just don’t get it. At fi rst, I said I would just ignore the messes I encountered. Within a few weeks of retirement, I gave into my overly ob- sessive need to pick up after others and started to clean up restrooms. Whenever possible, I pick up the toilet pa- per that is strewn on the fl oor (clean and dry only!). I pick up the pa- per towels from the fl oor and put them in the trash can – and smoosh the trash down, too, so there’s room for more. I have wiped off the sinks and even refi lled the soap dispenser on a couple of occasions. (And yes, I wash my hands thor- oughly after my tasks are complete.) My totally unscientifi c observations refl ect only what I’ve found in the ladies’ rooms – maybe you men are much neater and this problem never occurs. But ladies, I have to conclude, some of you are slobs. My compulsion to “clean up after you” has extended to other ven- ues. For example, last fall I was at one of our metro department stores helping my son pick out a suit for a friend’s wed- ding. Two clearance ta- bles were located next to the men’s fi tting rooms, dumped to overfl owing with character T-shirts and other miscellaneous items. Within the time it took my son to try on a variety of options, I had both tables neatened up, sorted by Spiderman, Guardians of the Galaxy and Transformers, and then by size and color. My neatness obses- sion on the road is a bit of a mystery because I am not that neat in gen- eral (ask my husband). I have magazines, sweaters and cookbooks scattered throughout the house on any given day. So, America, consider this the big group email: “Please be courteous to others and pick up after yourselves.” The email concludes, as you have guessed by now, “Your mother doesn’t work here.” Glen Conrad Oveson, the son of Ove and Esther (Jonson) Oveson, was born April 28, 1940 in Aberdeen, S.D. After graduating from Aberdeen Central High School, Glen attended Northern State College in Aberdeen for two years and then transferred to the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, S.D. He was a member of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity and graduated with an Electrical Engineering Degree in 1963. After graduation, Glen worked for Control Data Corporation in Minneapolis for one year before transferring to Florida where he worked at Cape Canaveral as a Customer Engineer on the Air Force Range Safety Impact Predictions System. It was in Florida where he met the love of his life, Gloria Jean Borchardt. They were married in 1967 and moved back to Minnesota to be closer to family and advancement opportunities within Control Data. Glen continued to work for Control Data Systems and Syntegra, a subsidiary of British Telecom until his retirement in 2002. *OHQ HQMR\HG ERDWLQJ ¿VKLQJ FDPSLQJ HOHFWURQLFV EXLOGLQJFRPSXWHUVUHDGLQJGULYLQJKLVUHG0LDWD¿[LQJ anything and everything, working on projects with his children, and spending time with family. He enjoyed KLV DQQXDO FDPSLQJ DQG ¿VKLQJ WULSV WR &DQDGD ZLWK friends, and especially the years his sons went along. He enjoyed traveling, especially his trip to Norway to visit his relatives. He was proud of his Norwegian heritage. Glen was a member of St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Bloomington. He was a volunteer at his church, and volunteered as an IT specialist at VEAP, the local food shelf. Glen was an active member and past-treasurer of the Miata Club of Minnesota. Glen was a loving and caring son, brother, husband, father and grandfather, and he will be dearly missed. Glen was preceded in death by his parents, and three half-brothers. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Gloria; three children, Carolyn (Paul) Stritesky of Eden Prairie, MN, Scott (Sally) of Sammamish, WA, Dan (Roberta) of Lakeville, MN; four grandchildren, Ryan, Jake, Victoria and Andrew; sister, Karen (Bob) Holman of Portland, OR; niece, Jennifer (Mike) Holman-Dodds; nephew, Jeremy (Sarah) Holman and their children; two brothers-in-law, Gene (Marilyn) of Fairmont, MN and Roger (Doris) of Owatonna, MN; one sister-in-law, Judy (Wayne) Frank of Cottage Grove, MN; and other loving nieces, nephews, and friends. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, March 2, at 2:30 p.m. with visitation one hour prior to the service at St. Stephen Lutheran Church, 8400 France Avenue South, %ORRPLQJWRQ 01  ,Q OLHX RI ÀRZHUV WKH IDPLO\ would prefer memorials to St. Stephen Lutheran Church, 8400 France Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55431; or to VEAP, 9600 Aldrich Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55420. Kenneth A. Koepke Looking for local news on the Internet? Kenneth A. Koepke, age 52, passed away on Feb. 15, 2019, following a severe brain bleed and stroke. He is survived by his daughter, Madison; parents, Larry and Dianna; sister, Kelli; nieces, Kristen (Cyrus) Cruttenden and Elizabeth Clausen; grandmother, Irene DeLong; aunt, Dorene (Kerry) Bartz; uncles, Don, Dean, Dennis (Joy) DeLong; cousins, Krissy, Dina, Nick (Ashley) and Tawna; many loving relatives and good friends. Preceded in death by sister, Kristen Koepke; grandpar- ents, Virginia and Lambert Koepke and Donald DeLong. Memorial gathering was held from 6-8 p.m. on Wednes- day, Feb. 27, 2019 at the Cremation Society of Minnesota, 7110 France Ave. S., Edina, MN 55435, [phone]. Searching for a Faith Community? Look no further than current.mnsun.com! www.onlineworshipdir.com