Clifford Martin Norell
Clifford Martin Norell, age 95, of Blue Earth, formerly of Sacred Heart, died Sunday, April 23, 2023, at St. Luke’s Care Center in Blue Earth. Funeral services will be Monday, May 8th, at 11:00 a.m. at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Sacred Heart. The Rev. Michelle Kleene will officiate. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Visitation for Clifford will be Monday one hour prior to the services at the church in Sacred Heart. Arrangements are with Dirks-Blem Funeral Service, Renville, MN.
Clifford Martin Norell and his twin brother Clayton were born on September 23, 1927, in Brown County MN to Martin and Ellen (Finstad) Norell. Martin and Ellen farmed near Comfrey. Tragically, Ellen passed away after the birth of Ellen May the next year. Martin was left to raise 20-month-old twin boys and a newborn baby daughter. With the help of family and friends in the Comfrey, Godahl, and Springfield area, Martin raised the kids. Clifford attended Comfrey schools, served in the U. S. Army Signal Corps in Korea. He then worked construction for Carlson Brothers and other employers, operating heavy equipment till his retirement after 17 years from the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative in Renville in 1992.
Clifford Married LaVaune Kottom Hanson in 1964 and they had one son, Peter Norell. Clifford and LaVaune divorce in 2010, having been separated for many years. Cliff was a life-long fisherman and caught many walleyes in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota lakes. He was an avid gardener and enjoyed watching the Vikings, playing cribbage and having morning coffee with friends at Kathy’s Place in Sacred Heart. In 2019 Clifford relocated from Sacred Heart to Blue Earth, Minnesota, so that stepdaughter Terri Hanson could care for him. After so many years of operating heavy equipment his knees gave out, and in 2020 he moved into St. Luke’s Lutheran Care Center, where he suffered a stroke in October of 2022. The family is grateful for the wonderful care he received there.
Survivors include his son Peter Norell, granddaughter Alyssa (Jack) Mackiney, stepdaughters: Terri Hanson and Jacqui (Marvin) Dikken; his sister Ellen Mae Amsden, many nieces and nephews and step-grandchildren. Clifford was also preceded in death by his parents, twin brother Clayton (Georgia), brother-in-law Faye Amsden, nephew Michael Norell and Niece Marian Norell.
