Carolyn "Carrie" Solberg, age 89, of Decorah, Iowa, passed away on Friday, October 16, 2026 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, with her family at her side.

Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, October 30, 2026, at Good Shepherd 701 Iowa Ave, Decorah, Iowa 52101, with Pastor Kristen Larsen-Schmidt. Burial will be held on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at Trinity Cemetery in Spring Grove, MN.

Visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at Helms Funeral Home, 306 E. Water Street, Decorah, Iowa.

In Lieu of flowers, memorials may go to the family in memory of Carrie.

Born on 10/08/1937 in Spring Grove, Minnesota, Carrie was the daughter of Arnold and Alice (Munkel) Myhre. One of nine siblings, she grew up in town caring for siblings, babysitting, working at a restaurant, and helping around the home. She graduated from Spring Grove High School in 1955. She played the saxophone in the band and met her husband of 58 years by asking him to prom as a junior; he was a freshman.

Enrolling in Winona State Teachers College, she completed her degree in 1957, nannying in the summers in Rochester to pay for her tuition. Then in 1957, she taught briefly in Caledonia, Minnesota, coming to Decorah in 1959 when she and Paul married; she taught in the Decorah Community School District. They lived in the barracks along College Drive across from the current city pool. Upon Paul’s graduation, they moved to Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, where, along with teaching, she started raising Jean and Brian. In 1966, Paul had the opportunity to begin teaching and coaching at Luther College, so they moved the family back to Decorah, where she began teaching again in the Decorah Community Schools. After a total of 37 years of teaching, she retired in 1998.

During Paul’s tenure at Luther, student athletes were a big part of their life, supporting and caring for many of them by cooking, baking, lending out the car, doing laundry, and bringing birthday wishes to them in the dorms. Over several campus vacations, she provided meals by cooking and baking for the entire wrestling team at their house, because the dorms and cafeteria were closed. She also washed all the laundry and made the beds that were lined up in the basement. You couldn’t ask for a more supportive assistant coach, attending football, wrestling, and baseball events to cheer on the men and support Dad and the athletic staff.

Her participation in her Nordic heritage was well established through being active in demonstrating kransekake baking, lefse, rommegrot, open-faced sandwiches, and most recently baking with her Goodshepherd family during krumkake baking in preparation for Nordic Fest. Her first attempt at kransekake baking was for her parents' 40th wedding anniversary celebration, and it took off from there. She baked almost 400 krumkake cakes for others in the community and shipped some across the United States.

Carrie was also an avid seamstress, quilter, basket weaver, enjoyed arts and crafts, knitting ‘scrubbies’, watching the Cubs, sudoku, made many sheep for new members at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, May Day baskets for friends and family, her famous caramels, and decorating at home and church for the Holidays.

She is preceded in death by her husband and parents; siblings: Joan(Thomas) Baumgartner, Gordon Myhre, Lyle Bacon (in-law), Carter Wiechmann; in-laws: Lyla(Kenneth) Smith, Naomi Solberg, Alden Solberg, Helen(Bud) Fink, Charles(Pat) Solberg, Margaret(Orville) Flaten, Robert Solberg, Judy Ashbacher

Carrie is survived by her children; Jean Solberg of Dixon IL, son Brian (Denise) Solberg of Decorah; four grandchildren: Amanda (Adam) Johnson of Portland OR, Stephanie Kennay of Dixon IL, Kalle Solberg of Naperville IL, and Keaton Solberg of Decorah IA; six great grandchildren Colette Johnson, Alana Johnson, Milton Johnson, Ole Paul Johnson, Elijah Robinson, and Ezekial Robinson; siblings Dorothy Bacon of Rochester MN, Mary(Elton) Newgaard of Spring Grove, Helen Wiechmann of Lubbock TX, “Butch”(Sylvia) Myhre of Marshfield WI, Wayne(Sue) Myhre of Calmar IA, Lorraine “Lolly”(Dwight) Perkins of Thorp WI; in-laws Judy Solberg of Bettendorf IA, David(Eileen) Solberg of Hiawatha IA, Donald Solberg of Hokah MN; and many nieces and nephews