Carmen Lucille Marie (Aamodt) Mogen

Our beloved earthly angel has flown away, but now we have our guardian angel. Carmen L. Mogen, 93, of Livingston, died peacefully on Friday, August 4, 2017, in her Bozeman Birchwood assisted living apartment. A Memorial Funeral Service will be held on Monday, August 14, 11:00 A.M., American Lutheran Church. A reception will follow at American Lutheran Fellowship Hall. Burial will then be at Mountain View Cemetery. Carmen was born on Mothers Day, May 11, 1924, in Overly, North Dakota, to Conrad and Marie (Anderson) Amodt. Raised on a small farm in Overly, Carmen grew up with her three brothers Kimball, Connie, and Clark. Dealing with both the depression and the dust bowl, money was scarce, but the family never lacked for entertainment telling stories, laughing, playing cards, drinking coffee, eating their mothers doughnuts, and having friends over. Carmen attended schools elementary through high school in Overly. They rode to school in a horse drawn covered wagon with benches and a pot belly stove that partially kept the school children warm during their long winter rides to school and back home. After graduating from high school, she went to Minot State Teachers College. To become a teacher, she had to take speech classes to rid her of her Norwegian accent. Graduating with a teaching degree, Carmen taught in Devils Lake, North Dakota, and Crosby, North Dakota. Although Carmen only made 92 dollars a month teaching, she still managed to send 25 dollars monthly to her brother Connie when he was in seminary. While teaching in Crosby, she caught the eye of Roald Mogen, a young pharmacist who would become her husband of 63 years. They were married on June 19, 1950. During their first years of marriage, they lived in New Castle, Wyoming. Then her husband Roald and his brother-in-law Emil Madson bought Public Drug in Livingston. Their home in Livingston was a testament to who Carmen was. She loved the Christmas holiday, transforming the home with so many decorations and Norwegian delicacies. In the summer, Carmen tended to her flower beds, especially her red geraniums and roses. Although Carmen never liked to get dirty, she was a good sport trying different outdoor adventures. She hunted antelope in Wyoming, backpacked in the Absaroka Mountains and down the Grand Canyon, snowmobiled through Yellowstone Park (when the Livingston Snowmobile Club made their own trails through the park), cross-country skied, and ocean fished in Alaska. At age 87, Carmen caught a 38 pound King salmon. Those early speech classes at Minot State proved very useful in later years as Carmen was repeatedly called upon to give programs for PEO, church luncheons, and family gatherings. Whatever story she chose, she knew it so well that she hardly looked down at the words. Carmen gave her last reading at age 92 at Birchwood Assisted Living. Her family, especially the grandchildren, loved to listen to her stories of growing up, her reading their favorite childhood books and her Christmas Eve selections. Family was such a central part of Carmen and Roalds lives. Over the years, they had their own travel adventures, but they really liked to travel to see different family members as well with family to new places. The grandchildren knew their Grammy and Gramps were their biggest supporters in all of their endeavors. Carmen enjoyed PEO for many, many years. Years back, she had been an active member of the Livingston Community Concert series. As a longtime member of American Lutheran Church, Carmen had been very involved in Morning Circle, the annual Lutefisk dinners, the choir, and the church bazaar, The Carmen Mogen family thanks the Birchwood staff for their wonderful care of our mother and grandmother. Over and over, she would say how good and kind the staff was to her. So in Carmens words, thank you, thank you. She is survived by daughters, Roxanne (Ritt) Hoblitt of Bozeman, MT; Jonell (Martin) Prather of Missoula, MT; son, Randall (Joan) Mogen of Livingston, MT; grandchildren, Ann�" (Patrick) Linn of Washington, D C; Jillian (Bret) Fanning of Cheyenne, WY; Colin Prather of Portland, OR; Ethan Prather of Coos Bay, OR; Charles Mogen and Olga Mogen of Livingston; brother, Clark (Vicki) Aamodt of Albuquerque, NM; and nieces and nephews. Carmen was preceded in death by her husband Roald, her parents, and her brothers, Kimball and Connie.