Hedberg, Betty (1921-2012)
HEDBERG, THOMSEN, PHILLIPS, WATERS, SUYDAM, BUENZ, VOLANTE, WINTERS, THOMSEN, CEFALU
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 2/19/2012 at 16:51:02
Betty Hedberg
February 25, 1921 - February 05, 2012Newell, Iowa
Hallelujah! I have arrived in my Heavenly Home and have been welcomed by my Heavenly Father and my loved ones who have gone before me! Obviously, I wrote this prior to my death because I was a secretary.
I was born in Racine, Wisconsin, on February 25, 1921, to Thomas and Marie Thomsen, both immigrants of Denmark.
After graduating from Horlick High School in Racine in 1938, I worked for eight years at the Marigold Dairy, saving my money to fulfill my dream of attending the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to train for a life in Christian Service. In 1947, I met the love of my life, Fred Hedberg, while going to school. We were married July 19, 1947, at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Racine where I was also baptized and confirmed.
While Fred worked at studying and completing his degree at seminary, I began my life of having six children. Our first child, Gloria Jean, died at age four from polio and went on to our Heavenly Home and awaits me there. We serviced churches in seven different states until we landed in Newell, Iowa, in 1969 where we served the Nain Lutheran Church until 1976 when Fred died of a heart attack. I had the good fortune of being offered a job as a bookkeeper at the Newell Good Samaritan Center where I worked for twenty-one wonderful years.
My hobbies and exploits have taken me many places, from singing in a church quartet in high school to cruising the Western Caribbean with my son, Danny, and his wife, Heidy, to venturing to Kenya, Africa, to visit my daughter, Joy, who was in the Peace Corps there, to spending precious time with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As a Lutheran minister’s wife, I have always cherished the church in my life, doing everything from working with the Lutheran Church Women, to acting as church secretary, to mentoring confirmands, and to preaching the occasional sermon at church.
I am preceded in death by my parents, Thomas and Marie Thomsen; my three wonderful brothers: Aage, Ezra, and Elmer; my husband, Reverend Fred Hedberg; my first-born daughter, Gloria Jean; four nephews and one niece: Roy, John, Tom, and Ron Thomsen and Nancy Phillips.
I am survived by my five children and their families: David (Barbara), of Grandy, North Carolina, and their children, Kristen and Nick; Paul (Louanne), of Perrysburg, Ohio, and their children, Carrie Waters (Matt,) and Gloria Suydam; Carol Hedberg (Dan Buenz), of Troy Mills, Iowa, and their children, Adam, Rachel, and Sarah; Joy Smith (Lynn), and their children Seth (Etta) and Alison (Josh Volante); Danny (Heidy), of Grandy, North Carolina; and my “adopted daughter” Gloria Chesney, of Farmington, Minnesota.
I am also survived by eight great-grandchildren, Cassidy, Melissa, and Michael Waters; McKenzie, Jerzie, and Rylie Suydam; and Skylar and Lane Smith. Nieces and nephews also surviving me are: Janet Winters, Ray Thomsen, Karen, Elaine, and KC Thomsen, Jane Cefalu, and Gary Thomsen and all their spouses and children. I also leave my wonderful Good Samaritan Center family and friends where I worked and then lived for over twenty years.
See you later!
Love, Betty
Memorial Service: 10:30 a.m., February 07, 2012, at the Nain Lutheran Church in Newell, Iowa.
Interment: February 07, 2012 at the Newell Cemetery in Newell, Iowa.Donations can be made to the Newell Good Samaritan Center.
Copyright © 2012, Fratzke and Jensen Funeral Home
Fratzke and Jensen Funeral Home
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