Joleen Lillehaug Petersen

We are heartbroken to share that Joleen Lillehaug Petersen passed away on March 31, 2024, due to complications from frontotemporal dementia.

Joleen made a difference everywhere she went. If your kids were at the same school as hers, she made a difference. If your kid played the same sport or instrument, she made a difference. If you attended the same church, worked at the same company, or lived in the same city, Joleen made a difference. Sometimes, she was front and center, and other times, she worked behind the scenes, but no matter her role, Joleen made the world a better place. She was a remarkable woman with a terrific wit, an enormous heart, and a ready smile to match.

Joleen was born May 6, 1956, in Lemmon, South Dakota. She was the youngest of three children and quickly learned that weekends and after school were for helping out in her parents’ clothing shop, Paradise Fashions. Joleen attended North Dakota State University and graduated with a degree in business and journalism. While she and Mike Petersen met when they were in middle school and dated for a spell in high school, it was during a college summer break that they realized they belonged together.

Joleen and Mike married in 1979 and moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Joleen worked in the loan department at Brenton Bank. They moved to Minnesota in 1981, where Joleen was the manager of the event planning department of Business Incentives. Their daughter, Amanda, was born in 1988, followed by their son, Alex, in 1990. Joleen’s priorities soon shifted, and she dedicated herself to raising her young family.

Never has the term “stay-at-home mom” been less applicable. Joleen was out and about volunteering almost immediately, and Mike and the kids were regularly “voluntold” as well. Joleen served on a multitude of committees; planned, decorated, and cleaned up after fundraisers; hosted team dinners; coordinated the senior party of the largest high school in Minnesota (three times – don’t ask); edited newsletters; and created initiatives wherever she saw a need. Senior citizens weren’t receiving gifts for the holidays – the senior gift drive was born. Long winters indoors in Minnesota – Math & Bingo Night appeared like magic. School referendum on the ballot – neighborhood contacts were organized to get the word out. Organizations that benefitted from the “Joleen Effect” include Relay for Life, Eden Prairie Soccer Club, PROP Shop of Eden Prairie, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, KIPP Charter School, Remission Accomplished Holiday Market, PROP Food Shelf, and every single Eden Prairie Schools’ PTO.

No matter how busy she was with these commitments, Joleen was always, always, present as a wife, mother, aunt, and friend. She knew the names of all the kids, the spouses of all the engineers, and the birthdays of all the buddies. There was no such thing as a “quick errand” for Amanda and Alex since, inevitably, they had to stop and chat with someone Joleen knew (and she knew everyone). Joleen celebrated the successes of her people and was there to offer a hug, an ear, or advice when things didn’t go as planned.

Despite her home being filled to the brim with her hearty laugh and the rubble from any given project, Joleen made time for coffees, barbeques, game nights, crab dinners, lefse-making sessions, potlucks, and parties in her tangerine-painted kitchen, as well as in her green office, blue dining room, and pink family room. She liked her home, her earrings, and her friends to be colorful, fun, and happy.

Mike and Joleen retired to their new lakeside home in East Bethel in 2018. Days were soon packed with rides on the new boat, decorating the new house, and meeting the new neighbors. And she had a very important new role: Grandma. Joleen packed a whole lot of loving into a very short time for her Oliver and Wesley. The boys joined the lucky crew of relatives and friends who knew what it was to be cared for by Joleen. What a gift to be a part of that group.

Joleen was preceded in death by her parents, Ethel and Rollo Lillehaug. She is survived by her beloved husband, Michael Petersen; children, Amanda (Rick) Scott and Alex Petersen; grandsons, Oliver and Wesley Scott; siblings, Duane (Kathy) Lillehaug and Colleen (Artie) Pederson; and many nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life open house will be held on Sunday, April 28, from 2 to 5 p.m., at Huber Funeral Home in Eden Prairie. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the American Cancer Society.