Hallelujah! I have arrived in my Heavenly Home and been welcomed by my Heavenly Father and my loved ones who have gone before me! Obviously, I wrote this prior to my death because I was a secretary.

I was born in Racine, Wisconsin, on February 25, 1921, to Thomas and Marie Thomsen, both immigrants of Denmark.

After graduating from Horlick High School in Racine in 1938, I worked for eight years at the Marigold Dairy, saving my money to fulfill my dream of attending the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to train for a life in Christian Service. In 1947, I met the love of my life, Fred Hedberg, while going to school. We were married July 19, 1947, at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Racine, where I was also baptized and confirmed.

While Fred worked on his degree and subsequent completion at seminary, I began my life of having six children. Our first child, Gloria Jean, died at age four from polio, and went on to our Heavenly Home and awaits me there. We serviced churches in seven different states until we landed in Newell, Iowa, in 1969 where we served Nain Lutheran Church until 1976 when Fred died of a heart attack. I had the good fortune of being offered a job as a bookkeeper at the Newell Good Samaritan Center where I worked for 21 wonderful years.

My hobbies and exploits have taken me many places, from singing in a church quartet in high school to cruising the Western Caribbean with son Danny and his wife Heidy, to venturing to Kenya, Africa, to visit my daughter Joy who was in the Peace Corps there, to spending precious time with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Being a Lutheran minister's wife, the church has always been my life, doing everything from working with the Lutheran Church Women, to acting as church secretary, to mentoring confirmands, and occasionally preaching the sermon at church.

I am preceded in death by my parents, Thomas and Marie Thomsen; my wonderful three brothers: Aage, Ezra, and Elmer; my husband, Reverend Fred Hedberg; my first-born daughter, Gloria Jean; four nephews and one niece: Roy, John, Tom, and Ron Thomsen and Nancy Phillips.

I am survived by my five children and their families: David (Barbara) of Grandy, North Carolina and children Kristen and Nick; Paul (Louanne) of Perrysburg, Ohio, and children Carrie Waters (Matt) and Gloria Suydam; Carol Hedberg (Dan Buenz) of Troy Mills, Iowa, and children Adam, Rachel and Sarah; Joy Smith (Lynn) and his children Seth (Etta) and Alison (Josh Volante); Danny (Heidy) of Grandy, North Carolina; and my "adopted daughter" Gloria Chesney of Farmington, Minnesota.

I am also survived by eight great-grandchildren Cassidy, Melissa and Michael Waters; McKenzie, Jerzie and Rylie Suydam; and Skylar and Lane Smith. Nieces and nephews who also survive me are: Janet Winters, Ray Thomsen, Karen, Elaine and KC Thomsen, Jane Cefalu and Gary Thomsen and all their spouses and children. I also leave my wonderful Good Samaritan Center family and friends where I worked and then lived for over 20 years.

See you later!

Love, Betty

Donations can be made to the Newell Good Samaritan Center.


Obituary & Photo is from The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home