Ingrid `Molle' Lepsoe, 91, Found Adventure She Sought

In 1925, Ingrid "Molle" Lepsoe slung her skis over her shoulder, caught a ship from her native Norway through the Panama Canal, and landed in Seattle where her fiance met her at the dock.

She sought adventure and a better life, said her son, Finn Lepsoe of Seattle.

Fifty years later, as the men sipped sherry up in the house, Mrs. Lepsoe was moonlight skinny-dipping with her daughter-in-law in the warm current at "Finisterre," a Canadian Gulf Islands home she'd helped her husband build.

Mrs. Lepsoe, who died of Parkinson's disease April 22 at 91, had found what she had sought so long ago - and reared a family, too.

In the early years, Mrs. Lepsoe supported her husband in the business he founded, Maritime Shipyards. During World War II, she and friends helped out at the Red Cross, and knitted sweaters and socks to send to people in Nazi-occupied Norway.

She and her husband, together with friends, founded Seattle Ski Club at Snoqualmie Pass, and often skied Mount Rainier and Mount Baker - before there were ski lifts.

"They put skins on the bottom of their skis so they wouldn't slide backward, and herringboned up the mountain so they could ski down," said her son.

Through the years, Mrs. Lepsoe kept up her piano-playing, and volunteered for nonprofit causes such as Children's Hospital & Medical Center and the Seattle Garden Club.

"The love of her life was gardening," said her son. "She knew every Latin name of every plant out there. At our place on Saltspring Island, she was usually seen bent double picking weeds.

"My mother was a European lady, somewhat of a structured gal who would not let a leaf fall in her yard without running out and picking it up."

Mrs. Lepsoe, an avid reader and bridge player, wintered in Arizona. She summered at Finisterre.

Her daughter-in-law, Melinda Lepsoe, recalls those warm nights.

"That phosphorous in the water, and all the stars. I don't know if you've ever done that, gone skinny-dipping with your mother-in-law, but it says a lot about who she was."

Mrs. Lepsoe's other survivors include her daughter, Ingrid O'Connell of Kent; her sister, Else Ekelund, Bergen, Norway; five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Her husband, Finn Lepsoe, died in 1976.

No services are planned. Remembrances may go to the American Parkinson's Disease Association, University of Washington Division of Neurology, RG-27, Seattle, WA 98195, or to any charity.