Morris Engebretsen, 96, of Harrison, Nebraska passed away peacefully in his sleep at The Village at Regional West Assisted Living in Scottsbluff on September 23, 2019. Funeral Services will be held Monday, September 30, 2019 at 10:00AM at the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Harrison, Nebraska with Pastor Rockhill officiating. Burial will follow at the Harrison Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Redeemer Lutheran Church.
Morris was born May 13, 1923 to Nels and Emma Engebretsen at their Harrison ranch. He attended country grade school and continued on to graduate from Sioux County High School in 1941. He worked on his parents’ ranch until joining the United States Army Air Corps on October 12, 1942. He served his country during World War II and was honorably discharged on February 8, 1946.
On September 12, 1949, Morris married Alda Grote, who was also from Harrison. They were married in a double ceremony with Dick and Jackie Herren at the Lutheran Church in Cheyenne, WY. He worked as a carpenter in the Harrison area while the couple owned and operated the Sioux Motel where they raised their three children. Morris willingly served on the town board, as mayor, on the volunteer fire department, as well as numerous offices in Redeemer Lutheran Church. In 1971, they moved to Loveland, Colorado, where he continued doing carpentry for eight years during a building boom before they moved back to live on the Engebretsen ranch near Harrison in 1979. Morris and Alda built their beautiful partial earth home in Sowbelly Canyon in 1984. In his retirement, he enjoyed helping his wife run their Sowbelly home as a Bed and Breakfast, as well as tending their large garden, still doing carpentry, and fiddling in his woodshop until the house burned down in the Pine Ridge fire of July 2006. Morris and Alda then moved to town and fixed up two different houses, and he resided in one of them until he moved to assisted living just a little over two months before he passed away.
Morris is survived by his son, Lee and his wife Barbara of Harrison; daughter Roxanne and her husband Tim Engelland of Gering; son William and his wife Barbara of Wayne, Nebraska; grandchildren Marcie (Sean) Warner, Lacy (Phil) Smay, Colin (Katie) Engebretsen, Ian (Katlyn) Engebretsen, and Emma (Ben) Kneifl; eleven great-granchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews as well as one sister-in-law, Helen Engebretsen.
He was preceded in death by his wife Alda, his parents, and his three sisters and six brothers.