Katherine Hedland

Katherine Hedland died on January 12, 2010, under the watchful care of Hospice at Evergreens of Fargo, where she had lived for five years, just short of her 97th birthday. Katherine Jorgine Swenson was born to Henry and Inga (Myhre) Swenson on January 17, 1913, on a farm near Kindred. She graduated from Kindred High School and shortly thereafter married Alexander (Alex) Hedland in 1933. They were farmers, with Katherine being fully involved in all the farm activities while raising their three children. She was a life long member of Norman Lutheran Church which has a special family history. Her father, who was born in a covered wagon enroute to North Dakota, was baptized under a tree at the site of the future church. Alex was asked to be the official photographer (volunteer) for the congregation, at a time when cameras were less prevalent. His goal to create a chronology of the church through a collection of 35mm slides required their attendance at almost every event in the church. Alex Hedland died in 1976. Katherine continued to live on the farm for a number of years, making it a total of 73 years that she lived on the farm on which she was born. In 1986, she moved to the Cooperative Living Center in West Fargo. There she was a customary participant in weekly bible study and learned to hand paint ceramics. Many of her family have shelves well stocked with her craftsmanship…from beautiful to whimsical. After a series of nursing home stays, she moved permanently to Evergreens of Fargo in 2004. Their staff became her second family and provided her with exceptional care and caring. Although her journey took her from the open spaces of the prairie to a two bedroom condo and then to a single room at Evergreens, she did not allow her world to shrink, and was intelligently aware of the world outside her walls. Her physical frailty was great; her mind stayed keen. True to her culture she studiously avoided “bragging about her kids:, but it was obvious that she was proud of the way her three children and their spouses chose to live their lives. Survivors are Vern (Marilyn) Hedland of Valley City, Ilene (Don) Rohde of Kindred and Merle(Kathleen) Hedland of Naperville, Illinois, along with six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. She is also survived by her only sister, Adele Swenson of Fargo. She is preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Inga and her husband Alex. The Funeral for Katherine will be Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 11:00am at the Norman Lutheran Church, rural Kindred, ND. There will be a Prayer Service, Friday, January 15th at 7:00pm at Fredrikson Funeral Chapel, Kindred and Visitation will be from 4-7:00pm in the Chapel. Burial will be at the Kindred Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Fredrikson Funeral Chapel, Kindred, ND