Background
Lars Olavson Fletre was born in Vossestrand, Voss, Hordaland, Norway.
Lars Olavson Fletre was born in Vossestrand, Voss, Hordaland, Norway.
Lars Fletre immigrated to Chicago in 1923 and attended the Chicago Art Institute from 1925 until 1931.
He was the youngest of seven children born to Ola Oddson Fletre and Kristine Olsdatter ytre Kvårmo. He returned to Norway to marry Helen Svensson Fletre who he had first met in Chicago. The couple lived in Norway from 1934 to 1954.
From 1941 to 1950 he worked as a designer, engraver and decorator for Hadeland Glassverk factory in Jevnaker.
He and his family returned to the United States in 1954, where they resided in Chicago. One of his more prominent works was a monument sculpted from granite for the fallen soldiers from the Fjordane Regiment, which included soldiers from Voss, Sogn, Hardanger, Sunnfjord and Nordfjord.
This memorial was unveiled at the former military camp at Bømoen in Voss on August 1, 1948. Some of Fletre"s other work includes restored buildings in Florence, Italy as well as work on the National Cathedral in Washington, District of Columbia Additional he worked on churches and missions in Las Cruces, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas.