Inger Gregersen (Steinsvik) 06/16/1926 - 10/01/2022 Inger was born in Bø i Vesterålen, Norway and passed away in Tacoma, WA.

Inger was born in her grandparents’ home and grew up on a small neighboring farm where her father fished and farmed. The Nazi Occupation of WWII stymied her studies. After the war she completed a cooking and kitchen management course of studies and worked in a private home in Oslo, Norway. On a visit back to Bø, she met Guttorm at a holiday party. He was handsome young Norwegian American who had served in the US Army. They began a courtship and in 1949 they tied the knot. They started their married life in Oslo where their daughter Gerd-Inger was born.

In 1951 Inger immigrated to the United States with Guttorm and Gerd-Inger. They lived in Tacoma where Guttorm was a Pacific Lutheran University graduate student and then an elementary teacher with Tacoma Public Schools. Inger and Guttorm became faithful members of Trinity Lutheran Church at this time. Their second child, Paul Arne Gregersen was born in 1955. They built their home on Wheeler Street, a yellow house with a white picket fence around a yard filled with beautiful flowers.

From 1957-1966 Guttorm was principal for Department of Defense Schools in France and Germany, so the family made many visits to Norway during that period and appreciated exploring a variety of countries in Europe. Inger loved looking for treasures  in antique stores, shopping in markets and experiencing new cultures. The family often traveled with their three room tent, which even had a window. It was a treasured experience for the family.

Upon their return to Tacoma, Inger was actively involved with Nordlandslaget, Trinity Lutheran Church Altar Guild, Sons of Norway, and the Scandinavian Cultural Center. She taught Norwegian Christmas Baking adult education courses at local community colleges and the Scandinavian Cultural Center. She was an avid rosemaler and oil on canvas painter, many with Nordic themes.

Inger and Guttorm moved to their home on Spanaway Lake, with a large garden filled with roses, dahlias, berry bushes, a grapevine, and a small garden of calendulas that she reserved as her granddaughters’ garden. She enjoyed the beautiful view and the sunsets each evening.

Wherever Inger found herself, she created a warm loving place for both family and friends. She was appreciated for her excellent cooking skills. Dinner parties were celebrations that often included singing, dancing and games! She was an excellent seamstress and enjoyed being fashionably dressed. She spent many hours in her garden growing beautiful flowers.

In their retirement years she and Guttorm enjoyed travel, including trips to Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia to visit Gerd-Inger’s family. They also traveled to Greece, Turkey, and Spain, as well as many parts of the United States.

Inger maintained a close relationship with her parents and eight siblings in Norway. In the 90’s Inger and Guttorm were able to purchase Inger’s childhood home and continued to visit Norway frequently. Whenever family gathered there was good food, lots of storytelling, and song after song accompanied by a guitar or accordion. They enjoyed hiking and midnight picnics in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter.

Through the years she and Guttorm welcomed her parents and almost all of her siblings in their Parkland and Spanaway homes and enjoyed sharing the beauty of the Pacific Northwest with them.

Inger made every house she lived in feel like a home as the family moved from place to place. Her last home was an apartment at the Tacoma Lutheran Home, now Eliseo, where she was surrounded by her favorite things and warmly cared for by the staff. Her favorite place in the US was the “beach house”, a serene spot that reminded her of Norway. In her later years, unable to return to her childhood home, “the beach” was where she wanted to spend her time and was where she celebrated her last Christmas surrounded by family.

One of Inger’s most humbling moments was when Guttorm was awarded the Saint Olaf’s Medal by King Harald VI in 2000 in recognition of his consistent fostering of Norwegian culture. The award and ensuing visit to the royal palace in Oslo for his private audience was something she never dreamed of as a little girl in Northern Norway. 

Most of all, Inger loved her children, grandchildren, and great- grandchildren very much, cherishing time spent with each one of them. She made them feel valued and appreciated. They knew that when visiting she would ask them to water her plants, sharing her love of flowers with them. She loved to share her Norwegian culture - food, stories, traditions, crafts - with them. Not a Christmas went by without going around the Christmas tree singing Norwegian carols. 

Inger was the loving mother of Gerd-Inger (Mark) McDougall and Paul Gregersen (Dave Cahail); grandmother of Heather Liv (Erik) Melver and Annelise McDougall; great-grandmother of Anika Liv, Saskia, and Vivika Melver. She was preceded in death by her husband, Guttorm Robert Gregersen, her parents Arne and Gusta Steinsvik, as well as her eight siblings.

She will be dearly missed by her family and friends, both here and in Norway.

A service for Inger will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in December. 

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