Hovde, Harriet Carla (Knutson) 1916-2009
HOVDE, KNUTSON, TOSTERUD, PAULSON, SHIELDS, CALL, THOMPSON, ASPENSON, BERGSRUD, NELSON, BROWN, KOPP, STRONG, ERICKSON, VAN BRUGGEN, PETERSON, SOLIE, ANDERSON, TROSSEN, WESTPFAHL
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 9/9/2012 at 11:15:53
Harriet Carla Hovde died on May 12, 2009, at Presbyterian Homes in Arden Hills, Minnesota, at the age of 92. She had formerly resided in Decorah, Iowa, for 62 years.
Memorial Services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Monday, June 1, 2009 at First Lutheran Church in Decorah by Rev. Steven M. Jacobsen. The family will have a private burial in Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah.
Harriet Carla (Knutson) Hovde was born on September 10, 1916, in Vernon County, Wisconsin, to Carl and Hannah Knutson. She was baptized on October 22, 1916, and confirmed on June 14, 1931, in the Coon Prairie Lutheran Church near Westby, Wisconsin. She grew up on the family farm, and after attending normal school, she taught in one-room schools for three years. In one of these schools, she taught children who spoke mostly Norwegian, the language of her home.
Harriet married Oivind Marius Hovde on August 26, 1939, in the Coon Prairie Lutheran Church. They then moved to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where Oivind earned a graduate degree in Library Science. Oivind’s first position after graduate school was head librarian at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Oivind was asked to become a part of the library staff at Luther College, and in August 1944, the family moved to Decorah with their first two children. In 1949, Oivind assumed the position of Head Librarian at Luther College, a position he held until his retirement in 1977. In the summer of 1960, the family, now including two more children, lived temporarily in Thousand Oaks, California where Oivind helped to establish the library at the newly-formed California Lutheran College.
Along with being an excellent homemaker and cook, Harriet was an avid student of nature. She, along with Oivind, was fond of watching birds and looking for wild flowers in the woods around Decorah. She was active in Decorah’s First Lutheran Church, Luther College, hospital associations, and other community groups. After the death of her infant daughter, Karen, in 1949, Harriet cared for three infant foster children—Jackie, Candy, and Mary—for extended periods. She was a generous, caring person who lived by the passage in the book of Micah “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Harriet was preceded in death by husband Oivind M. Hovde on June 8, 1986; infant daughter Karen L. Hovde on January 21, 1949; parents Carl H. Knutson on Thanksgiving Day, 1950 and Hannah B. (Tosterud) Knutson on May 11, 1945; son-in-law Wayne C. Paulson on December 3, 1993; brothers and sisters: Hjalmer Knutson, Blanche Shields, Ella Call, Alice Thompson, Erling “Bud” Knutson, and triplet brothers who died in infancy; nieces and nephews: Fred Shields, David Call, Harriet Aspenson and Gordon Call.
She is survived by four children: Peter (Charlie) Hovde of Moorhead, MN; Marty (Fred) Bergsrud of New Brighton, MN; David (Marj) Hovde of Mulberry, IN; and Ann (Leif) Nelson of Morrison, CO; grandchildren: Bryn (Paul) Brown, Kai (Michelle) Hovde, Kirstin (Cory) Kopp, Jon Paulson, Annikka (Jimmy) Strong, Tory Paulson, Karla Hovde, Lars Hovde, Eric Thompson (fiancé Angie Leutters), Britta Nelson, Sonja Nelson, Solveig Nelson; great grandchildren: Isabel and Joshua Finn Brown; Liv and Evan Hovde; Anabritta and Kellen Kopp; Brya, Leif and Mari Erickson; Peter and Cole Paulson; step grandchildren: Mark (Christine) Bergsrud, Anne (Wouter) van Bruggen, Laura (Tim) Peterson; step great grandchildren: Emily, Jacob and Becky Strong; Camille and Simone Bergsrud; Isaac, Matthew and Ellianna van Bruggen; Maya Peterson; sister-in-law Noreen Knutson; nieces and nephews: Konnie (Merle) Solie, Katherine (Arnie) Anderson, Mary Trossen, Pat (Paulette) Shields, Carol (Rich) Westpfahl, Trygve (Millie) Thompson, Joel (Anne) Thompson, Richard (Nancy) Knutson and many friends.
Memorials may be given to Nature Conservancy, 303 Locust Street, Suite 402, Des Moines, IA 50309, Winneshiek County Habitat for Humanity, P.O. Box 457, Decorah, IA 52101, or an organization of the donor’s choice.
Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database
Lutheran Cemetery, Decorah
Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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