Susan Carol Norvold was born in Shelton, Washington May 28, 1945 to Lillian Emma (Flatner) Norvold and Rudolph Waldemar Norvold, D.D.S., who was serving in the Pacific with the United States Navy at that time. She was raised with her older brother in an idyllic little town where a great pack of kids was free to bicycle and run and play "work up" in the horse field and "ante-ante-I-over."

Susan attended Pacific Lutheran University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude from the University of Washington then obtained an M. Education Degree from Western Washington University.

William Olavi Aho and Susan married in Shelton in 1967 and moved to Bellingham to begin married life and Susan's teaching career. Two sons, Erik William and Joel Christopher, were born in Bellingham. A transfer took the family across the country to eastern Maine where the boys and the dog loved the snow, but Bill and Susan missed home and family. In 1975 the family came back to Washington and settled in Bellevue, where they have been for 40 years.

Here Susan's career took her into part-time teaching in Early Childhood Education and Parent Education at Bellevue Community College for ten years, then she returned to primary education at Samantha Smith Elementary in the Lake Washington School District for 14 years. She cherished the hundreds of children and families she came to know and loved the joy and adventure of teaching young children.

Bill and Susan traveled to Australia, throughout Europe, biked in Italy, Austria, and Germany, and visited Finland and Norway to see see ancestral homes and farms and islands. On a trip around the USA they biked through Gettysburg, Antietam, on the Mississippi levee and in many other memorable places. A certificate program in Genealogy and Family History at the University of Washington took her off into study of her ancestors and trips to visit ancestral farms, families, chuches in the Midwest. Susan was a part of several genealogy groups including the Daughters of Norway and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Danskin Triathlons at ages 63 and 64 were a proud accomplishment, but the highlight of her life was a trip to the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Monduli, Tanzania. Susan was slowed down by chronic fatigue in her later years but added volunteering for the Performing Arts Festival Eastside
(PAFE) and winters near Tucson for the warm outdoor pools.

Susan's most treasured journey was always to Lost Lake, near Shelton, where for 60 years generations of family and friends have gathered for celebrations and quiet days at the cabin, for boating, skiing, sculling, kayaking, fishing,sailing, and swimming, for wonderful meals together and for skywatching at night.

Susan was predeceased by her parents, and by her grandparents, Ethel Belle (Hill) Flatner and Arthur Flatner, and Clara Gunhilda (Steen) Norvold and A.H. Norvold. She is survived by her husband of 48 years, William, by sons Joel Aho of Bellevue, and Erik Aho, his wife Shannon Keast Aho, and their daughter, Emily Belle Aho of Burbank, CA, her brother Jan Bennet Norvold, D.D.S, her niece Brita Maren Norvold of Redmond, as well as a large extended family in this area.

Susan was diagnosed with acute erythroid leukemia in Tucson, AZ in March of 2015 and left us too soon on July 21, 2015.

Memorial service will be held at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, 2650 148th Ave SE, Bellevue 98007 on Saturday, August 1st at 1pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Andrew's or to MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School, via St. Andrew's, or to The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

"Under the cover of the stars
Under the cover of the sun
Fermented into eternity
There lies a precious moment
of time called life."


- Walter Rinder