Elen Thorhild Ottman, 92, most recently of Rohnert Park, California, and previously a longtime resident of Novato, California, passed away peacefully Thursday, September 12, 2019, surrounded by her loving family.
She was born in Norway on June 13, 1927, the youngest of three children to parents, Trygve (Thomas) and Ellen Espeland, who moved the family to America (New York City) later that year. After high school, being extremely artistic, she worked in Manhattan for The Norcross Greeting Card Company, and later as a fabric designer for J.H. Thorp & Co., where she met her first husband, Vincent LaRocca, a traveling salesman for the company. They started out in an apartment in Brooklyn in the late 1940s, then a house in Yonkers, and eventually to a new home in Stamford, Connecticut in 1955, where they lived until their divorce in 1969.
She and her six children all moved to California (Marin County) in the mid-1970s. She worked for many years at Villa Marin, as their receptionist and “resident artist,” designing and drawing posters and murals for various social events. There she met her second husband, Harold Ottman, a retired machinist. They married in 1997. Very much in love, they enjoyed traveling together; their theme song being, “On The Road Again.” After he passed away in 2005, she worked as a beloved caregiver for Visiting Angels, retiring in 2011 at the age of 83.
Her greatest passion was her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She is survived by her daughters, Laura and Patricia; her sons, Lance, Tom, Vince, and Jim; and their families, including eighteen grandchildren and seventeen great grandchildren; and her sister, Sonja, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Her brother, George, passed away in 2007.
Anyone who knew her felt her loving spirit and, if you had a need, she was “All In!”
A graveside service and reception for her family will be held at Valley Memorial Park Cemetery in Novato, California.
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