August 9, 1930 - October 6, 2024 Jenny Bergit Lillebo, 94, of Missoula, passed away on Sunday, October 6, 2024. Our hearts are broken. She was born on August 9, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York to Gudrun and Olaf Olsen.
When she was a baby, her family moved back to Lista, Norway where her parents were from. It was difficult times in Norway, so her mother moved back to New York to find work to support her family. Jenny and her sister, Ester, stayed in Norway where they were raised by their grandparents.
She told many stories about how wonderful they were and how much she loved them. Her favorite story to tell was during the war, her grandmother would make potato cakes and send Jenny to go hand them out to the prisoners of war marching by her house. Jenny filled her coat pockets with potato cakes and would sneak them to the prisoners as they walked by.
She always remembered the gratitude on their faces. The German soldiers took over their home and made them find another place to live. She remembers wearing paper shoes during that time period.
The war kept her and her mother apart for years. When she was 16 years old, her mother took a ship to Norway and brought her and her sister back with her to Brooklyn. Jenny worked as an Opare and started her journey in America.
One of the highlights in her life was a night in 1957 when Jenny and her girlfriends were all dressed up and ready to go to a dance, but instead of heading to the dance, Jenny and a girlfriend decided to go listen to Ame.
