Borghild Haven

Borghild Emelie Haven, 98, left this life peacefully at Cooperstown Medical Center on April 14, 2010. Her wish for a long life was fulfilled.

Borghild was born on July 27, 1911, in a small homesteader’s house on the rolling prairie of Eddy County, North Dakota, to Mathias and Nilla Haven, recent immigrants from Fitjar, Norway. Over the next twelve years, she was joined by three brothers and a sister. She delighted in her role of big sister. Starting her school years in a one-room rural school, she brought her new learning home and began her lifelong teaching career with her younger siblings. Her early and deep roots in the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church (Gethsemane Lutheran) anchored her faith and her life’s calling to service.

Her education at Mayville Teachers College, Lutheran Bible Institute, Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota was a foundation for teaching career and learning quest. She taught at several small town and rural schools in North Dakota as well as in Minneapolis. As a single woman, she was denied her wish to attend seminary but she found other avenues of higher education and expanded cultural experiences in the Twin Cities and extensive travels, including trips to the Holy Land. Joining her parents in a long trip to their home village in Norway in 1949 strengthened her ties to her family there and her heritage.

In middle age, she accepted the call back to the farm to care for her aging parents. Together with her brother Clarence, Borghild was able to selflessly provide Matt and Nilla the gift of long lives at their farm home. Her ministry of nurturing the rural community’s youth included teaching Sunday School, confirmation classes, and Bible studies. She led the local Luther League youth for three decades, taking trips to national conventions, even when she was in her eighties.

Borghild was loved and admired far and wide. Never calling attention to herself, she was always keenly concerned about the well-being of others. Even in her last days, visitors were greeted with “Tell me about yourself and your family.” Her life was a testament to the new commandment of Jesus when he said “... that you love one another; even as I have loved you.” One of her past students aptly stated: “She is a saint. But you can’t say that because no one will believe you. That is, unless they know her.”

Borghild was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Rangvald and Clarence. She is survived by her sister Clara Loge of Montana and brother Melvin Haven of McHenry, sister-in-law Gudrid Haven of McVille and many nieces and nephews. eight nieces and nephews and countless numbers of people who considered themselves part of her family.