Haugen, Gerdis C. (1930-2017)

HAUGEN, GJERTSON, WALKUSCH, ANDERSON, CALDER, MOKLESTAD, MYERS, KECK, MAYFIELD, ZAHARIS

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 11/30/2017 at 14:55:49

Gerdis C. Haugen
August 3, 1930 - August 24, 2017

Gerdis C. Haugen, 87, of Garner, formerly of Woden, died unexpectedly on Thursday, August 24, 2017, at Haroldsplass Hospital in Bergen, Norway, while visiting her brother, Donald Haugen, and his family.

Gerdis Cleone Haugen, a daughter of Ole and Elizabeth (Gjertson) Haugen, was born on August 3, 1930, on a farm north of Woden. Baptized and confirmed at Grant Lutheran Church, she attended rural school until March of 1944 when the family moved into Woden. She graduated from Woden High School in May of 1948. Then, she took college credit classes at Luther College in Decorah and taught in rural schools near Woden for four years. Next, she worked for Eastern Airlines in Chicago and Scandinavian Airlines in Minneapolis as a reservationist. Eventually, she attended Mankato State College in Mankato, Minnesota, graduating in December of 1965. She taught first grade in Clear Lake for a semester and then for the next sixteen years served as the high school librarian. After ending her years in the school setting, she moved back to Woden to stay with her mother and brother, Buddy.

Gerdis enjoyed traveling to New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, the Panama Canal, Peru, Hawaii, California, and Colorado while working for the airlines. With her mother, she took many road trips to Minnesota, Colorado, Missouri, and Texas to visit relatives. They traveled to Loveland, Colorado, to visit Alice and family, to Missouri to visit Colleen and family, and to Missouri and Texas to visit Diana and family. In 2012, she visited Norway.

After Buddy passed away in August of 2012, Gerdis stayed at the home place in Woden where the Haugens had lived since March of 1944. On July 24, 2014, however, she moved to an apartment in Garner. The place in Woden sold in May of 2015 after the family had owned it for seventy-one years. In 2012, she visited Norway.

Gerdis, also, enjoyed cooking and baking. She always made our family favorites such as caramel bars, buns, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and glorified rice for the holidays and special occasions. In addition, she enjoyed luncheons with her birthday club. A member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Woden, she attended services on a regular basis.

Gerdis is survived by her six siblings: Russell (Colleen) Haugen, of Thompson, Alice (Gunter) Walkusch, of Loveland, Colorado, John (Debra) Haugen, of Klemme, Betty (Norris) Anderson, of Thompson, Donald (Liv) Haugen, of Bergen, Norway, and Ole Haugen, of Los Angeles, California. Gerdis was very much loved by her nieces and nephews: Elizabeth Ann (Thomas) Calder; Cathrine, Deanna, James (Tuesday), Jason (Laura), and Julie Haugen; Nancy (David) Moklestad; Diana Myers; and Colleen and John (Denise) Walkusch; her great nieces and nephews: Jonathan Burress; Albert and Henry Calder; Alexander, Joshua, Samantha, Samuel, and William Haugen; Ryan Keck; Logan and Sean Mayfield; Megan Moklestad; Alexis and Nicholas Myers; and Annah, Dawn, Kadence, and Harper Sue Zaharis.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Bernice, in 1935; two brothers, Elliott, in 1948, and Harold “Buddy,” in 2012; and a sister-in-law, Gloria Haugen, in 1989.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 P.M., Friday, September 15, 2017, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Woden with Rev. S. Kim Peterson officiating. Burial will follow at Grant Township Cemetery [Winnebago County] north of Woden. Visitation will take place from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M., Thursday, at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel in Woden and will resume one hour before services at the church.

Cataldo Schott Funeral Home, Forest City, Iowa, 2017.

Winnebago Obituaries maintained by Cheryl Siebrass.
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