Eleanor Gertrude (Berg) BRANDT

BERG, BRANDT, HARTER, GERDEEN, BACHELDER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/26/2010 at 10:48:33

May 28, 2008
Decorah Iowa

18 April 1914 -- 24 May 2008

Eleanor Gertrude Berg Brandt. 94,died Saturday, May 24, 2008, in Fridley, Minn. Funeral services were held Wednesday, May 28 at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley, and a brief graveside service was held later that day at the Glenwood Lutheran Church cemetery near Decorah.

Born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on April 19, 1914, she lived as an infant in rural Hinsdale, Mont., for several months and subsequently in several North Dakota communities, including Sannish, Plaza, Emerado, Williston, Larimore, and Grand Forks, graduating from Central High School in Grand Forks in 1932. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of North Dakota in 1936 and an M.S. in education from Drake University, Des Moines, in 1973. She married Rev. Olaf Ottesen Brandt Dec. 28, 1939, in United Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, N.D., where he served as assistant pastor. With him, she subsequently served Lutheran parishes in Rugby, North Dakota (1939-1947), Thor and Hardy, Iowa (1949-1957), and Petersburg, North Dakota (1957-1964), as well as the Canoe Ridge and Glenwood Lutheran Churches near Decorah (1964-1977).

Mrs. Brandt was active in church and community affairs, teaching Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, serving as a member of the Ladies Aid and Women's Missionary Federation, singing in adult church choirs, directing youth choirs, and serving as a church camp counselor. She was a member of the Luther College Women's Club and secretary of the Glenwood Lutheran Church Council for three years and was also a member of the West Side Study Club in Decorah, serving for a year as president. In 1994, she moved to Fridley and became a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley. Beginning in 1936, she taught English in the Minto, N.D., and Emerado, N.D., public school systems, respectively, until her marriage in 1939. She later taught briefly in the Waukon public schools and taught special education in the Decorah public school system from 1970 until her retirement in 1982.

She is survived by four children: Kenneth Brandt of Sierra Madre, Calif.; Marjorie Harter of Washington, D.C.; Marilyn Gerdeen of Fridley, Minn.; and Beverly Bachelder of North Oxford, Mass; five grandchildren: David Brandt of Waianae, Hawaii; Anna and Andrew Gerdeen of Fridley; and Stephen and Elizabeth Bachelder of North Oxford and two great-grandchildren, Troy and Alexander Brandt of Waianae. She was preceded in death by her husband, Rev. Olaf Ottesen Brandt; her parents, Edwin and Anna Berg, and a brother, Kenneth Berg.