Vesta Marie Berglund was born in a rural farmhouse near Slayton, Minnesota the first of three children to Arthur and Melba Carney on December 18, 1935. Vesta grew up on her parents’ family farm north of Lake Wilson, Minnesota. She attended school in Lake Wilson and was baptized at Lake Wilson First Methodist Church. She married the love of her life, Theodore Alfred Berglund, on August 30, 1952. They lived on a farm south of Slayton that was their home until 1990 where they raised their five children. As a young mother, Vesta returned to school graduating from Slayton High School in 1969. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in high school education for physics, chemistry, and mathematics from Southwest State College in Marshall, Minnesota in 1974. She put her degree to work by being a teacher at Verdi, Minnesota, and other area high schools in the following decades including Westbrook and Chandler-Lake Wilson High Schools. In 1989 she earned her master’s degree in social work and counseling from North American Baptist Seminary. She utilized her newly acquired skills at Sunshine Bible Academy in Miller, South Dakota. From there she worked at a Nebraska Native American reservation; Swea City Iowa School; and Good Samaritan Society of Algona, Iowa where she retired from in 2007. Vesta was an EMT, a member of Daughters of the American Revolution, active in Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Algona Gideons Camp.
Left to cherish her memory are: son Lloyd (Shirley) Berglund of Brookings, South Dakota; daughter Christine Haack (Jim Gabrielson) of Roseville, Minnesota; daughter Louise (Tim) Meyer of Storden, Minnesota; grandson/son Deryl Berglund of Bancroft, Iowa; 12 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; brother Leon (Elsa) Carney of Chandler, Minnesota; sister Verna (Jim) Jager of Hazel Green, Alabama. Vesta was preceded in death by her: husband Theodore; parents Arthur and Melba Carney; daughter Elizabeth Summer (Bill Linscott); great-grandson Hunter Stuckey; and grandparents.
A celebration of Life will be held on September 7, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Slayton United Methodist Church, 2764 Broadway Avenue, Slayton, Minnesota. There will be a visitation at the church starting at 9:30 that morning prior to the service. A meal at the church will follow the service. Interment will follow the meal at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery on the east hill near Chandler, Minnesota.
In lieu of flowers at Vesta’s celebration the family prefers memorial gifts to be sent to The Gideons International, Algona Camp U14003, Titonka, IA 50480.
