Jolene F. (Cross) Oberg

Jolene was born into a time of great turmoil during WWII, yet she came into a small, and loving family and was the much loved “baby” at a hard and busy time. Jolene’s Dad left to serve in the US Army in 1944 when she was very small and she and Mother and sister moved in with grandparents where they all shared a busy wartime life. When her father returned from service at the end of the war, the family moved to rural SE Portland where Jolene grew up with a neighborhood full of active children. She had a major collection of stick horses, which led to a life-long love of horses. She attended Lynch Grade School, started high school at Gresham and graduated with the first graduating class of Centennial High School. During that time she was active in school functions and made many life-long friends. She was able to attend Oregon State University for a period of time, then began her work career which included West Coast Telephone, Estacada Telephone Company, City of Sandy and finished her career as an Administrative Assistant at the Port of Portland Airport, a job she loved and flourished in.

Jolene met and married her great love, Carl Oberg on April 12, 1969. They bought and moved to a small acreage in Eagle Creek, Oregon where Jolene was able to pursue her love of country living and finally, have a “real horse”. Her only son Carl Jr. was born in March of 1971. Shortly thereafter, in July of 1971, her husband and best friend Carl was killed in a tragic accident leaving Jolene a young widow with a three month old baby. Throughout the rest of her life, Jolene was a dedicated and loving mother, always placing Carl first in her life.

Throughout her life, Jolene was artistic, loved music and travel, was an “outdoor kind of girl”. While working for the City of Sandy, she had a side job creating and drawing political commentary cartoons for the Sandy Post and also designed the logo for wine glasses commemorating the Sandy Mountain Festival on two occasions. When she finally left Eagle Creek, she moved into the Gresham area to be closer to her family and work and during Carl Jr’s time at Centennial High School, Jolene hosted three different foreign exchange students for the experience for herself and Carl, one from Denmark, one from Norway and one from Finland.

Jolene and her mother were able to take a one month vacation to Denmark and Norway to visit her exchanges students and their families and to connect with her own Norwegian heritage. A highlight was visiting her particular favorite, Axel Kristoffersen, who became a “second son” to her; forming a life-long relationship full of love, with both him and his family.

Jolene was a family girl, loved all things celebratory, belonged to Daughters of Norway and had many interests in music, books and particularly her collection of polar bears.

She is survived by her son Carl H. Oberg, Jr., her sister Nancy E. Orton, her long time companion Craig Howard, sister-in-law Karen Murphy, brother-in-law Larry Oberg, step-children Allison and Brad Oberg and many nieces and nephews and extended family. She will be greatly missed for her loving and caring nature. In her last few months, she received much care and support from the Adventist Hospice Services for which she was very grateful.

A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, May 30, 2015 at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home with reception to follow. She will be privately laid to rest at Riverview Cemetery alongside her husband Carl. In lieu of flowers, we would request donations to the Adventist Home care and Hospice Services, 5835 N. E. 122nd Ave., Suite 135, Portland, OR 97230.