Dorothy (Berg) Jacobson

Jacobson, Dorothy Jeanne (Berg) Died August 20, 2006. Dorothy was born April 10, 1927, in Minneapolis, to Casper Robert Berg and Mindora Hanson Berg. She attended Jefferson Junior High School, West High School (class of 1944), and the University of Minnesota. While at the U, she was active in the Creative Writing Club and wrote for The Minnesota Daily. She ultimately earned her bachelor's degree in her forties and began work on a master's degree in English. Dorothy was a gifted musician who could play hundreds of songs and hymns on the piano by ear and from memory. Her favorite songs were Red River Valley and Little Boy Blue; her favorite hymns were Beautiful Savior and Behold a Host Arrayed in White (which was sung at her father's funeral). Dorothy was an avid reader and wrote detailed and entertaining letters all of her life. After a shopping trip to stock up on essentials, for example, she wrote, "I am a plutocrat of underwear!" She shared her love of reading with her children and spent many hours reading aloud to them and making up stories for them. Dorothy was not rich in worldly possessions and she struggled all her life, first as the daughter of a single mother and then as a single mother herself. But Dorothy had a gift for life, regardless of how difficult it was for her. She loved to swim and taught her children to love the water, as well. She loved to ice-skate and was a speed-skater in her youth. And she was a walker and hiker who took her inability to drive as an opportunity to experience the world on foot. She was never happier than when she was out walking in the clear pure air of the North Woods. Dorothy's favorite poem was Invictus: "Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody, but unbowed." Dorothy thanked not "whatever gods may be," but Jesus Christ her Lord. She was a dedicated and life-long Christian who found great comfort and strength from her church community, St. Luke's Lutheran Church (now The Miracle/ El Milagro) in South Minneapolis. Dorothy, a member of St. Luke's for nearly fifty years, sang in the choir for many years and found friendship and fellowship in the Ruth-Hannah Circle. Dorothy is survived by her children, Jocelyn (Jeffrey Steele) Riley, Mark Riley, and Elise Jacobson; grandchildren, Doran (Frances) Steele, Brendan Steele, Fiona Riley, Ragnar Riley, and Morgan Riley; great-granddaughter, Adelaide Steele; nephew and nieces, Stephen (Mel) Berg, Lynda Berg, and Susan Matusiak, and their children, Chase, Winston, Matthew, and Alida; long-time friends, Phyllis, Vonnie, Hilde, and John. Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, Mindora Hanson Berg and Casper Robert Berg; grandparents, Gunhild Berg and Ole Rasmus Berg of Chippewa Falls, WI, and Minda Bergh Hanson and Rev. Eldor M. Hanson of Minneapolis; brother, Robert Mark Berg; dear friends, Richard Lindeman and Kathleen and Ted Shove. Memorial service 1:00 PM Wednesday, August 30, 2006 at: Washburn-McReavy Hillside Chapel 612-781-1999 2610 19th Ave. N.E.

Dorothy (Berg) Jacobson

August 27, 2006

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