Dagny T. Lerseth, 96, died Thursday, February 21, 2019 at Bethesda of Beresford.  Funeral services will be 10:30 AM Saturday, March 2 at Roseni Lutheran Church, rural Beresford, SD.  Visitation will be 5:00-7:00 PM, Friday, March 1, 2019 at Roseni Lutheran Church followed by a prayer service at 7:00 PM.   Memorials can be written to the Dagny Lerseth Helping Hand Account in care of the Beresford School District or Bethesda of Beresford Nursing Home.

If Dagny Tverberg Lerseth were to tell you who she was in life, she would tell you that she was an unremarkable woman who married a South Dakota farmer and raised four children; that she attended Roseni Lutheran Church where she served in many capacities ranging from teaching, to serving as a council member, to providing food for numerous occasions.  She might tell you that she made clothes for her children, fed them well, and did what she could to keep them on a Godly path.

If you could get her to talk to you long enough, you might find that hers was a remarkable life. She made her way to the prairies of South Dakota years after being born at Fort Dauphin, Madagascar and to her Norwegian-American missionary parents Pastor Sven and Elise Tverberg.  She was born on January 29, 1923 on a warm summer day.  She grew up, not with pet dogs and chickens, but pet lemurs and shifakas.  She could watch dolphins play in the Indian Ocean from the balcony of the boarding school that she, her three sisters and two brothers attended known as the Mission School. Their school was located on the opposite side of the island from where her parents worked among the Malagasy people whom she learned to love so much.  The Tverberg children left home at age six and did not return to their home for eight or nine months until their summer vacation. Her older sisters, Betty, Borgie and Swanee, watched over her since she was the youngest of the sisters. Her brothers, Miltzo and Luther, also attended the same school. As the children grew too old be educated on the island, they were brought back to the United States to attend school.  Their mother Elise's brother watched over them as they continued their education in America.

While they traveled to and from Madagascar to America by ship, the children were taken ashore to ports in Africa, England, France and Norway. They grew up speaking several languages and learning about many different cultures. Sven and Elise saw every day as a day of education for their six children.  As a result, Dagny was ever aware of people who grew up lacking food and opportunities that she had. During her life, she would support many organizations that fed the hungry and underprivileged.

At the age of 16, it was her turn to remain in the United States.  She attended Northfield High School in Northfield, MN, then Augustana Academy in Canton, SD where she met Dayle Lerseth whom she would eventually marry.  Upon graduating from Augustana Academy, she returned to Northfield where her uncle was treasurer of St. Olaf College. She attended St. Olaf College but did not complete her degree in history, deciding instead to move to South Dakota and marry Dayle on June 21, 1944.

Dagny set about learning what it is was to be a farmer's wife, to cook for threshing crews, to care for chickens and raise a garden, all the while raising her four children Candice, Randall, Don and Pamela. She read to them, busied them with puzzles and endless games in the South Dakota winters. She was a very accomplished seamstress and sewed many clothes for her children.

As her children began to leave home, she developed an interest that she shared with her sister Swanee: creating Norwegian embroidery called Hardanger, and knitting intricate Norwegian sweaters from Norwegian wool. She taught classes for people in the surrounding area who wanted to learn these arts.  She was a voracious reader and found she now had time enjoy reading again.

In April of 1977 her husband Dayle died of a sudden heart attack, but tropical-islander Dagny stayed on the farm. Throughout her life, she was greatly sustained through her many transitions by her deep faith in Jesus Christ.  Her children, and later her grandchildren, saw her as a living example of the Christ that she served.

Her son Don took over the farm after Dayle's untimely death. By this time her nine grandchildren were beginning to be born. Since all her children lived nearby her, she spent many days reading to, teaching and playing all sorts of games with her grandchildren.  Her days were full.

Having watched her nine grandchildren grow to adults, marry and begin families, she now had time to go back to an old love of hers – traveling.  As all her siblings retired from their employment, they banded together to travel again - just as they had as children going back and forth to Madagascar.  The siblings returned to Madagascar together in 1994. They traveled to Israel and Egypt, to Canada and throughout the American northwest and southwest. She spent winters in New Mexico, and Florida with her sisters and brothers-in-law.

Then life changed again for her, and her faith sustained her through her last years of battling health issues.  After a bout of infections, she moved into Bethesda of Beresford Nursing Home where she lived until her death on Feb. 21 ^, 2019. She celebrated 8 birthdays while living at the home. While there, she became friends with many wonderful caretakers, both at the home and through Compassionate Care Hospice.  She loved when they had time to take her outside and let her enjoy the sunshine and the flowers and her frequently-mentioned beautiful trees. At these times, she would look backward, and say I have had a very good life.

Very grateful to have shared her life are her children Candice, Randall, Don (Ilene Christopherson), and Pamela (Michael) McGill; her nine grandchildren, Randall and Mary's Sonja, Gretchen, and Joshua, Don and Ilene's Britta, Sven, and Hannah, and Pam and Mike's Elise, Mara and Seth; her 22 great-grandchildren and 32 nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Dayle, son Randall, and her siblings, Elizabeth, Borghild, Swanhild, Miltzo, and Luther.