Bengtson, Edna Selma Hake (Mrs. W.H.)
12/28/1953
MRS. W. H. BENGTSON
January 23, 1898-December 28, 1953
Mrs. Edna Selma Hake Bengtson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Hake, was born on January 23, 1898 on a farm near Hagleton, Illinois. She died on December 28, 1953.
The influence of a Christian home and the nurture of the Methodist Church led her to accept Jesus Christ as her personal savior and friend early in childhood. She became a member of the Methodist church in 1910.
Mrs. Bengtson was educated in the public schools of Washington County, Illinois and later graduated with high honors from the Nashville, Ill., High School. Attending college one year she secured a teacher’s certificate and taught school until the fall of 1921 when she again entered college. She was graduated from Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Missouri, in June 1924 with a B.A. degree in “English” and “Bible and Religion.” Her excellency of work merited her the “Magna cum Laude” honors.
She gave her hand, heart and love in marriage to the Rev. W. H. Bengtson, a deacon in the Southern Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, on November 22, 1925. Her native ability, early training, deep consecration and faithful prayer and study habits eminently fitted her to take her place with her husband in the ever widening and demanding experiences in the life of a minister’s family. With her husband she served in four pastorates in the twenty-eight years of life as the wife of a Methodist minister. On each of these churches and communities she made a lasting impression of steadfast goodness and her never-failing kindness. In the memory of all who knew her there is a deposit, fragrant and beautiful that only a lovely Christian woman could leave behind her.
Mrs. Bengtson is survived not only by her husband, but also by two sons; Robert, Methodist minister, and George, 1st Lt., U. S. A. F.; and two daughters; Dorothy and Margery, both college students; three sisters and one brother.
Truly the writer of the Proverbs knew someone like Mrs. Bengtson when he wrote: “Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.”
Source: Journal Louisiana Conference, 1954; p. 169
