Birth date: Feb 12, 1935 Death date: Oct 5, 2023
Bjørn Alfred Stenseng February 12, 1935 – October 5, 2023 Bjørn Alfred Stenseng, 88, was born on February 12, 1935 in Lillehammer, Norway to Leif and Julie Stenseng. He was followed 7-years later by a sister Inger Johanne (or “Nan Read Obituary
We have such wonderful memories of our Uncle Bjørn! We will miss you!!!
Love, Lloyd, Anita, Hanna and Sevrin
I'm posting these pictures of my mother Bjorns wife of 41 years.
They look like movie stars.
Ben Stenseng
My name is Ian Stenseng, and I am Bjorn's eldest son Stein's son.
Bjorn Stenseng was my grandfather, but I called him Bestefar.
He was a remarkable man. Although he never formally became an American citizen, he was as close to an American success story as just about anyone could be.
He came to this country in 1953 at 18 years old with very little in the way of resources, having trained as a boilermaker - a trade that was in rapid decline.
With some friends in the Norwegian immigrant community, he was able to retrain and build a successful construction business to support his soon-to-be growing family (my dad was born in 1956, just 3 years after arriving in the States.)
I have many happy memories of running around his house as a little boy, getting into the many tools, nails, and screws in his garage. I would find scrap wood and nails, electrical tape, and duct tape, and build wonderful projects while generally making a huge mess of the workshop and tools with which he made a living.
In retrospect, It's a wonder I survived to adulthood.
He was generally remarkably patient with me, but I think he could see that I was interested in and had the family aptitude for working with my hands that he possessed.
As an adult, I now work in an aerospace manufacturing facility that also creates jobs and upward mobility for people who are blind, DeafBlind, and blind with additional disabilities. My job is to find ways to make high-tech manufacturing equipment, tools, and technologies accessible for those folks.
I have one of the wooden airplanes Bestefar would make with kindling and glue hanging in my office at work.
I also carve pipes, spoons, spatulas, and other wooden objects, and craft things out of leather. I recently built a small cedar timber tiny house trailer that I will use to camp with my family when it is completed.
I derive great satisfaction from building things, fixing things, making nice objects, and working with my hands, and I think that's the greatest inheritance I could have received from my Bestefar. I am proud to continue in his tradition.
I will miss him very much.
I've attached some of my favorite pictures of him, us together when I was a little boy, and of my family and things I have made.
I hope you are all well,
Ian Stenseng
The most precious memory of my wonderful husband. -Marianne
Thanks for all the good memories Bjørn
Willy Aasen
Lillehammer Norway
Our deepest compassion.
Elin and Joerann Lillehammer Norway
Here are some more pictures of my father and family.
To all of our family and friends who knew my father.
God bless you, Ben Stenseng
