Rev. Murley Alden SEVERTSON

SEVERTSON, MURLEY, KROGH, COATES, MORGAN, HAYDEN, WATKINS, SANGER, SHAFFER, ROE, ODEGAARD

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/19/2014 at 11:54:51

September 16, 1919 -- April 15, 2014

CLEAR LAKE, IA -- Pastor Murley Alden Severtson, 94, Clear Lake, died Tuesday, April 15, 2014, at Oakwood Care Center. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, April 21, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, with the Rev. Kathy Graves officiating. Visitation will be Sunday, April 20, 4-7 p.m. at Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake, and one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be at the Clear Lake Cemetery where Military Honors will be presented by the Clear Lake V.F.W. Memorials may be given to Opportunity Village, the Malaria Fund at Trinity Lutheran Church, or the charity of your choice.

Murley was born Sept. 26, 1919, in Eagle Grove, the son of Thomas J. and Anna Louise (Murley) Severtson. He attended school in Eagle Grove, graduating from high school in 1937. In 1941 he graduated from St. Olaf College and served as a captain in the Marines during WWII. He prepared for the ministry at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., graduating in 1948.

Murley married Jeannette Krogh in Washington D.C., on Sept. 12, 1942. He served parishes in Pequot Lakes, Minn., Rockford, Ill., Clear Lake, Mason City, and worked a year for Tent Makers. He was searching for a way to serve more people outside the walls of the church. He received a scholarship from the Lutheran World Federation to study communities for disabled people in Germany. When he returned, he was called to be the pastor at Zion Lutheran Church. Shortly after arriving in Clear Lake, he helped form a small group who wanted to develop a place where people with disabilities could live and work together in a Christian environment. Their work resulted in the founding of Handicap Village which became Opportunity Village. Murley served as president of its board for 17 years. He also served on the boards of Waldorf College, Golden Valley College in Minneapolis, Hospice of North Iowa and was vice president of the Iowa District of the American Lutheran Church for three years.

Murley is survived by his wife, Jeannette Severtson, Clear Lake, children, Maren (Steve) Coates, Galena, Ill., John (Jana) Severtson, Clear Lake, Genelle (Mike) Morgan, Pella, Mark (Lori) Severtson, Oregon, Wis., and Rolf (Fran Hayden) Severtson, Delray Beach, Fla., grandchildren, Emily (Justin) Watkins, Andrea (Nathan) Sanger, Kirk (Josie) Severtson, David (Amanda) Severtson, Andrew (Tammy) Severtson, Lisa (Anthony) Alvino, Sara (John Shaffer) Morgan, Bjorn Severtson, Rolf Severtson, Keelin Severtson, and Anna Severtson, fourteen great-grandchildren, sisters-in-law, Hazel Severtson and Lillian Roe, and several nieces and nephews. Murley was preceded in death by his parents, daughter Judy Severtson, brothers Thomas, Ansle and Luther Severtson and sister Genevieve Odegaard. Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake, IA.

April 18, 2014
Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa

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Severtson remembered as caring pastor, Village leader
By PEGGY SENZARINO

CLEAR LAKE -- The Rev. Murley Severtson, one of a group who helped found Handicap Village in Clear Lake, now known as Opportunity Village, is being remembered as a godly man and a fine leader. Severtson, 94, died Tuesday at Oakwood Care Center in Clear Lake.

"He was probably one of the finest men I've ever known," said Dr. Rae Bieber, one of a group of Clear Lake residents involved in the development of Opportunity Village "He was quite a leader when it came to getting that thing started. He was always calm. His prayerful leadership was important." The decision to form the Village came at a meeting on Aug. 9, 1966.

A native of Eagle Grove, Severtson graduated from St. Olaf College and Luther Theological Seminary. While a pastor in Rockford, Ill., he started searching for "greater involvement."

"After I was in the ministry 15 or 16 years, I began to see how much more the Christian church should be doing in the way of helping people," Severtson explained in a 1983 Globe Gazette article. He spent three months in Germany on a scholarship from the Lutheran World Federation studying a community for disabled people. Inspired by the ideas he saw overseas, Severtson returned hoping to spark similar programs here. A short time after his return, he was called to become pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Clear Lake where he served from 1966-79. In Clear Lake, he found a group of people who shared his interest in a home for the handicapped.

"All I can say is he was in the right profession. He was a super pastor. He was always caring, concerned," Bieber said. "He had a certain kind of leadership that involved the big man upstairs. That kind of kept us going. We had some pretty slow days there."

Severtson served on the Opportunity Village Board of Directors from 1966 to 1983. He was also the first president of the board of directors. His son, John Severtson, became the chief executive officer of Opportunity Village in 2002. He is retiring at the end of May.

Another Clear Lake resident involved in the creation of the Village, Bill Otterman, read from a letter he wrote to Severtson in 1992.

"Murley, I admire you more than I've ever been able to tell you. God's hand is clearly upon you. I recognized that when we met," Otterman wrote in 1992. "I never doubted for a moment that you were God's choice for the role you played in the development of Handicap Village. Your wisdom was such a blessing in mediating some of the disagreements. No one else could have filled your shoes."

The pastor's involvement with the Village helped satisfy his longing to extend his Christian service, Severtson said in a 1983 Globe Gazette interview. "It speaks for my concept of Christianity. It's simple, understandable, involved with helping people and meeting needs where people are hurting."

April 15, 2014
Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa