Baerg, Elisabeth Rahn Friesen (1888-1968)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Dec 26 p. 11

Birth date: 1888 Feb 20

text of obituary:

MRS. ELISABETH BAERG

Mrs. Elisabeth Baerg, daughter of Gerhard and Anna Thiessen Rahn, was born on Feb. 20, 1888 in Sparau, South Russia. She died on Nov. 10, 1968 at the Glasgow, Mont. Deaconess Hospital, having reached the age of 80 years, eight months and 21 days.

When she was a year old, her parents came to settle in the Mt. Lake, Minn. area. Here she received a meager elementary education. When she was 16 years old her mother died, and she took on home responsibilities. She joined the First Mennonite Church of Mt. Lake, of which her father was a minister. For two winters she was a cook in the Bible school near the Bruderthaler Church, Mt. Lake.

On Feb. 20, 1916 she married Peter A. Friesen and moved to Idaho. Part of her duties as a young mother included caring for her bedridden mother-in-law. Mr. Friesen died less than three years after their marriage, leaving mother a widow with two small daughters, Anna and Elisabeth. She again made her home in Mt. Lake and on July 18, 1920 she married our father Henry G. Baerg, who was a widower with three young sons, Arthur, Ruben, and Clarence.

Our parents moved to Montana after their marriage and lived on the place in the Lustre community which father had homesteaded in 1916. Two daughters, Susie and Lena, were born to this union.

Our parents experienced many hardships through the years but remained faithful to their Lord, serving Him in the Bethel Lustre Mennonite Church of which they were charter members. Faith-believing prayer sustained her. One of her favorite scripture verses was James 5:16, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." After father's death in 1951, mother made her home with her youngest daughter and family, the Alvin Eitzens.

Also preceding her in death were a daughter, Susie, three grandchildren, three brothers and two sisters.

Surviving her are three sons, Arthur and wife Clare, Huntsville, [Ala.?], Ruben and wife Agnes, Wolf Point, Mont., Clarence and wife Nellie, Glasgow, Mont., three daughters, Anna, missionary in Hotevilla, Ariz.; Elisabeth and husband Alvin Kliewer, Frazer, Mont., and Lena and husband Alvin Eitzen, Frazer; her aged step-mother, Mrs. Helena Rahn of Mt. Lake, Minn.; two sisters, Mrs. Peter Olfert of Mt. Lake and Mrs. Howard Knutson of Granite Falls, Minn.; five brothers, Jacob G. Rahn of Three Forks, Mont., John S. Rahn, New York, Henry S. Rahn of Olympia, Wash., and Gary Rahn of Rome, Italy; 18 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.