GJELSTAD, CHRISTINE (HALL) - Of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Born June 5, 1911. Died February 25, 2006. Christine lived a long life, outliving her siblings, her husband, Per Torbjorn Gjelstad, and surpassing even her own mother's lifespan. Mrs. Gjelstad excelled at the domestic arts and sciences. She loved music, dancing, cooking, and her Saviour, and she ran her household with precision. Chrissie, as she was fondly known, and her sister Kathleen, were the daughters of Captain Lancelot Hall of Lunenburg, a deepwater schoonerman. They both married Norwegian sailors in 1943. Chrissie wed Per Gjelstad, of Sandefjord. Per and Chrissie were wonderful dancers and they loved each other all their lives. Per first went to the Antarctic at age 13, and in 1940, after his country was invaded, he enlisted in the Extraterritorial Resistance at Lunenburg. He served as a gunner on tankers during the Second World War. He worked as a rigger and boilerman at the shipyard in Lunenburg and later returned to sea on offshore trawlers as chief engineer. He was president of the local Legion branch for two years. After he retired, Per served with the Corps of Commissionaires until his death in 1985. Chrissie was the eldest girl in a family of five children. She left school after Grade 6, in order to be second-in-command at the family farm under her beloved mother, Annie, known to the family as Nanny. The farm fed the family while Capt. Hall was away, engaged in the Caribbean trade. Chrissie could sew clothes finer than could be purchased. She braided and hooked rugs, crocheted tablecloths and knitted sweaters. She was an excellent cook and a zealous housekeeper. As a young woman, she worked for several years as the domestic employee of a doctor's family in Halifax. When she returned to Lunenburg, she became one of the spirited crew of girls who clerked uptown at Stedman's and at the Dominion. They all became lifelong friends. Chrissie was very active as a member of Zion's Lutheran Church in Lunenburg, as a weekly congregant, Sunday School teacher, choir member and faithful member of the Evangelical Lutheran Women or ELW. She loved music, and played piano for services at the nursing home where she would later reside. Chrissie loved the Lord with a fervour. And, she made the best squares, cakes and cookies at any church social. She delighted in company, but had little of it in her final years. She enjoyed entertaining and feeding her family, serving delicious meals, presented with elegance, promptly at noon and five every day, or upon unexpected occasions. She kept a large home, on her own, until her late eighties. It was always immaculate. Declining health eventually required her to move into the care of Harbour View Haven in February 2000. Her mind clouded in the following years. She often asked her son to run her out home to see her mother, who had passed away in 1983 at the age of 93. Chrissie yearned to be reunited with Nanny. Her family hopes, and has faith, that she is now happy and at peace in the arms of her beloved mother and their gentle Saviour. Mrs. Per Gjelstad is survived by her only child, Roy, a reporter for CBC-TV in Fredericton; her brother-in-law, John Folvik of Lunenburg; her sister-in-law, Lillian Hall (Mrs. Victor) of Lunenburg, and numbers of nieces and nephews and their offspring. Her funeral was held in Lunenburg on February 28. A reception in the church hall was graciously provided by her surviving friends in the ELW. Memorials may be sent to Zion's Lutheran Church at Lunenburg, or to a preferred charity. Condolences may be sent to R.T. Gjelstad, Box 1183, Stn. A, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5C8. [Daily Gleaner]