Beverly Bakken, 87

Sept. 24, 1933 —

July 11, 2021

 

CRESCO - Beverly Bakken, age 87, of Cresco, Iowa passed away on Sunday, July 11, 2021 at Regional Health Services of Howard County. 

A visitation will be held on Wednesday, July 14 from 4-7 p.m. at Lindstrom Funeral Home in Cresco. Visitation will continue on Thursday, July 15, from 10-11 at Peace Lutheran Church in Ridgeway, Iowa. A funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. Burial will be at Lincoln Cemetery in rural Ridgeway.

Beverly Ann (Hove) Bakken was born on Sept. 24, 1933, the second daughter to Oran Jerome Hove and Aleda Kathrine (Hovden) Hove, on a farm just south of the Lincoln Lutheran Church. She was baptized, confirmed and married at that church. She lived in Cresco for six years, where her dad opened a barber shop, then with World War II being fought, they moved to her grandparents’ farm south of Ridgeway to help with the farming, as the youngest son there was off to war. In 1943 they moved to Ridgeway, where her dad opened a barber shop, and they managed the telephone office. After graduation from high school, she went to work at the then named Farmers State Bank in Ridgeway. 

On Feb. 6, 1954, she was united in marriage to John Valjean Bakken, son of Howard and Geneva (Albertson) Bakken. They were the parents of four children, Denise Ann, Kim Allen, Randal John and Todd Valjean. The following years they lived in Decorah, Ridgeway, Waterloo and then Denver, Iowa. She was employed by the Denver Community School District, John Deere in Waterloo and Koeh-ring/Bantam in Waverly. At that time she was a member of St. Peter Lutheran Church, where she served on the Church Council, choir, taught Sunday School, Bible School and was a member of Naomi Circle. 

John died of a heart attack on Dec. 22, 1978, and Beverly remained on the acreage until December 1986, when she moved to Mesa, Ariz. She retired as a librarian from Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, Ariz. in 1996. 

On June 10, 2000, she was united in marriage to Charles Harrison Miller at Orleans Lutheran Church. 

She is survived by her husband, Charles Miller of Cresco; her daughter, Denise Ann of Mesa; daughter-in-law, Joni Bakken of Mesa and grandchildren, Chelsea Marie (Paul) Olarte of San Francisco, Calif., John Henry Bakken (Alysha) of Mesa and Betsy Jo (Brennan) Moore and great-grandchildren, MayDee Jo and Millee Denise of Mesa; son, Randal John (Tammy) of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and their two sons, Kegan Jerome (Sarah) Bakken of Waterloo, Iowa and great-granddaughter, Luna Morie and Jarek John (Jill) Bakken and great-grandchildren, Jovie Marie, Asher John and her namesake, Everly Louise and August Randal of Bettendorf, Iowa; son, Todd Valjean (Stacey) Bakken of Mesa and their two daughters, Alaina Katherine (Dylan) Bakken and Aleah Elizabeth Bakken. She is also survived by her stepchildren Julie (Steve) Linderbaum; Jeff (Julie) Miller, Dean (Sue) Miller and Laurie (Steve) Fangman; 10 step-grandchildren; and 21 step-great-grandchildren; along with two sisters-in-law, Sharon McAtee and Janice Ellsworth. 

She was preceded in death by her first husband, John V. Bakken; a son, Kim Allen Bakken; her parents and parents-in-law; her sister, Rosemary (Lyle) Rosendahl; a sister-in-law, Linda (Richard) Schwartz; and brothers-in-law, Jim Ellsworth and Harry McAtee.