Elsie M. Berge

Elsie Marie Berge, 85, of Moorhead, died Thursday, July 24, 2008 at Eventide Lutheran Home. She was born October 14, 1922 in Estherville, IA, to Rev. Selmer A. E. and Ida Hatlestad Berge. Her father’s parish work took the family to Fort Dodge, IA in 1925 and Fargo, ND in 1931. She graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1940. In 1944, she graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead with a B.A. in English and Public School Music. She then attended the Katharine Gibbs School, NY, NY, graduating in 1945. From 1945 to 1947, she served with the Evangelical Lutheran Church’s national Luther League office in Minneapolis, MN, and with the United Nations’ Technical Assistance Board in NYC, 1952-1953. Elsie worked for a number of years in the field of education, teaching courses in Business/Secretarial Skills, English, and Music on multiple levels—elementary to collegiate—including positions at Concordia College, Moorhead 1947-1948 and Pacific Lutheran College 1948-1952. For her longest tenure, she joined the library staff of Moorhead State University in 1967, where she worked until retirement in June 1988. She was a member of First Lutheran Church, Fargo, and later Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, serving on the Trinity Library Board for many years. Elsie also maintained membership in the Mu Phi Epsilon music honor society. She especially requested this notice include the following words: “Elsie gives grateful thanks to each member of her family and all her friends who have prayed for her and shown her love and many kindnesses. May God return the blessing to each of you.”Elsie was preceded in death by her sisters: Ruth Berge of Moorhead and Phoebe Randolph of Wheeling, WV. She is survived by: her brother, S. Matthew Berge, M.D. of La Mesa, CA, and his sons—Peter Berge and family of St. Paul, MN, Mark Berge of Minneapolis, MN, and Eric Berge and family of Apple Valley, MN—and her sister Phoebe’s daughters, Kimberley Loccisano of Yorkville, OH, and Jacqueline Woomer of Ashland, VA, and their families.In lieu of flowers, Elsie asked that memorials be directed to the Selmer and Ida Berge Scholarship Fund at Concordia College, Moorhead.