Avis Hoium, age 80, died on Friday, May 16, 2003, at St. Josephs Hospital in Park Rapids, Minnesota.

Visitation was held at the Johnson-Green Funeral Home in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, on Monday, May 19. Services were held Tuesday, May 20, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Thief River Falls. Interment was in the Greenwood Cemetery in Thief River Falls.

Avis Cora Engelsrud was born on July 11, 1922, at the family farm in Marsh Grove Township in Marshall County, Minnesota, the oldest of six children of Conrad H. and Anna (Haugen) Engelsrud. She was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith.

She attended Sunnyside School in Marsh Grove Township and graduated from Newfolden High School in 1940. She attended Interstate Business College in Fargo, North Dakota, and worked for several years for Baker Insurance Company in that city.

She moved to Thief River Falls and was employed as secretary to L.B. Hartz. It was there she met her husband, Howard Hoium, who delivered mail to her office.

Avis was employed for ten years as parish secretary at Trinity Lutheran Church in Thief River Falls. Later she was employed for 21 years by the Thief River Falls Public Schools in several positions, including secretary to the superintendent and personnel director.

During retirement Avis enjoyed traveling with her husband and they spent many winters in Texas and Arizona. They attended many lag meetings related to their Norwegian heritage. In the summers they liked to visit their children at the lake. After her husbands death, Avis made several trips with her children to Europe. She especially enjoyed two trips to Norway where she visited the birthplaces of all her grandparents and met many hospitable relatives.

Avis enjoyed Norwegian Hardanger needlework and won several grand championships on her entries at the county fair. She liked art and painted as a hobby. She also enjoyed music.

She is survived by two children: Cheryl (John Valen) of Laporte, MN; and Harold, of Eden Prairie, MN. She is also survived by three siblings and their spouses: Verna and Harlin Elseth of Albert Lea; James and Leola Engelsrud of Newfolden; and LuAnn and Roger Broderson of Atlanta, GA. Several nieces and nephews also survive. She was preceded in death by her husband, an infant daughter, Corrine Kay, her parents and two brothers: Harlan and LeRoy.