Dorothy Marie Kjergaard

Dorothy Marie (Braun) Kjergaard was born April 18, 1929, in Sumner, Iowa, to Ed-ward and Marie (Aschbrenner) Braun, and was baptized in St. John's Lutheran Church of Spring Fountain, Iowa on May 12, 1929. She attended school St. John's Lutheran School at Spring Fountain from 3rd to 8th grade. Then she moved to Westgate attending Sumner High School two years and graduating from Maynard High School. After finishing high school, she took a summer course at Concordia College, River Forest, Illinois and became a teacher (at 18) in Lutheran schools at Williamsburg, Iowa (3 years) Decatur, Illinois, (3 years) and St. Louis, Missouri (1 year).

In Decatur, Illinois, she met Carlton Kjergaard, a seminary student who was doing field work at her church. They began correspondence through letters for two years and were married at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Sumner, Iowa, on Sunday, June 20, 1954. Upon Carlton's graduation from the seminary, She and her husband started Ascension Lutheran Church, Torrance, California, July 1954. In 1955, they moved to Perris, California, serving Redeemer Lutheran Church and then in 1956 they also served Zion Lutheran Church of Fallbrook, California. In 1959, they moved to Covington, Oklahoma, when he accepted the call to St. John's Lutheran Church of Covington and then later also served Immanuel Lutheran Church, Breckinridge, OK, beginning in 1966. During the time in Oklahoma, Dorothy be-came the district treasurer of the LWML and held several offices in the local socie-ty. She helped start the midweek weekday school as a teacher at Covington and later was also a teacher at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Breckinridge, She taught Vacation Bible school for many years. In Covington, she served as the local drive coordinator for the Northwest Oklahoma Blood Mobile for 11 years. She also served many years on the local election board in Covington.

They retired to Olathe, Kansas in 1993. In retirement, she served as a pianist at nursing homes where her husband led the services. She continued to play for services after her husband's death in 2015 until services were shut down due to COVID in 2020.

Dorothy was well known as a good mother specializing in cooking, baking, sewing and gardening. Above-all she will be remembered by her husband and children as a godly wife, mother, and a worker in God's Kingdom.

She is survived by four children, Dorcas Kassebaum and her husband Jerry of Dallas, TX; Deborah Lorentz and her husband Doug, of Florrissant, MO; David Kjergaard and his wife Kristi of Denver, CO; Daniel Kjergaard and his wife Barbara of Stilwell, KS; fourteen grandchildren, Paul Kassebaum and his wife Megan and their sons Henry and Timothy; Sarah Radtke and her husband Ben and their chil-dren Elijah and Abigail; Daniel Kassebaum and wife Bonnie and their children Katie and Levi; Thomas Kassebaum and his son Robert; Ami and her husband Paul Bur-gorf and daughters ; Abigail Lorentz; Phillip Lorentz; Bethany Askew and her hus-band Tim and daughter Beatrice; Kari Kjergaard; Stanislav Kjergaard; Alison Kjergaard; Joshua and Katie Kjergaard and son Liam; Caleb Kjergaard; and Hannah Hammond and husband Cody. She is also survived by a brother and two sisters.





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