Mark Harmsen

***Below is the obituary that was posted at the time of his death in 2018.  Upcoming service details have been added.***

Mark W. Harmsen collapsed suddenly at his job on November 8, 2018, and was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the doctors were unable to start the heart beat and pronounced him deceased on November 9, 2018.  He was 65 years old. 

Mark was born on February 15, 1953, at Atlantic Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, Iowa, to his parents Lloyd W. and Jo Ann (Abrell) Harmsen of Walnut, Iowa.  Mark grew up and worked on the family farm until graduating from Walnut High School in 1971.  He was baptized when he was five months old and confirmed in 1967, at the Zion Lutheran Church in Atlantic, IA, and was a current member of Lord of the Lakes Lutheran Church in Forest Lake, MN.  

In October of 1972, he was married to Pamela Marie Morelock at Zion Lutheran Church in Atlantic, IA. They had three sons, Scott, Gregory and Charles Harmsen. They were divorced 1979. In 1982, he married Toni Olson who had two children, Joe and Sara Olson, who he raised as his own children in Minnesota. They were divorced in 1996. Mark met the love of his life, Irina Pavola; she eventually came to the United States, and they were married March of 1999. They lived together happily at their present home in North Branch, MN, until the time of his passing. 

Surviving are his wife, Irina; his mother, Jo Ann Harmsen; brother, Matthew Harmsen both of Rio Rancho, NM; five children, Scott Harmsen and wife, Cynthia of Nebraska, Joe Olson and wife, Rochelle of Lindstrom, MN, Sara Olson of Mora, Gregory Harmsen and wife, Tara of Iowa and Charles Harmsen of Iowa; nine grandchildren, Joseph and Kaleb of Minnesota, twins Jacob and Caleb of Kansas, Chelsea Kohl, Hunter and Brandon Harmsen of Iowa, and Stacy and Sean Harmsen of Nebraska; and a host of relatives and friends. 

He was preceded in death by his father, Lloyd W. Harmsen; all of his grandparents; his uncle, Freal Abrell; aunts, Madge Abrell and Roberta Mathiesen and her husband, Gene.

Memorial graveside services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, August 6, 2024, at the Layton Township Cemetery in Walnut with Pastor Kyle McBee of Zion Lutheran Church in Atlantic officiating.

Roland Funeral Service is caring for Mark’s family and his local arrangements. Condolences may be left at www.rolandfuneralservice.com.