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Services Wednesday for Dr. J. Melburn Soneson
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (April 2, 2001) - Services for retired North Park University professor Dr. J. Melburn Soneson will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bethlehem Covenant Church, 3141 43rd Avenue South. Soneson, 79, died late Saturday evening at the Colonial Acres center in Covenant Manor.
Soneson joined the North Park University (then college) faculty as an instructor of philosophy and religion in September 1956, eventually attaining full professor status. From 1983-1987 he led groups of North Park students to work at a school in Furcy, Haiti, a small community in the mountains outside of Port-Au-Prince. The work trip program was canceled due to political unrest in Haiti.
The college board and North Park Theological Seminary granted him Emeritus Faculty status just prior to his retirement June 1, 1988.
Elder Lindahl, who taught philosophy and religious studies at North Park for 38 years, taught with Soneson for 30 years. They constructed a major for the school after it moved from junior college to four-year-college status in 1960. Neighbors and friends in Chicago, they continued that relationship during the past decade at Covenant Manor in Minneapolis. Lindahl said he appreciated Soneson's abilities to informally relate to students, describing him as a master teacher who could challenge students on a variety of levels.
"We were very good friends," Lindahl said. "We had a lot of discussions and common interests in philosophy and ethical issues. And we were very close to the (other person's) families. I was impressed with his inquiring mind and interest in discussion and the questions he would pose. He was a disturbing teacher because he would ask a lot of questions and students would be forced to think. He was a master teacher. He could really get students engaged and thinking through these big issues of life. Observing him as a teacher was very important for me."
Soneson received an Associate of Arts degree from Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he met his wife, Dagmar. He went on to earn his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Chicago. Before joining the North Park staff, Soneson earned a doctorate in Philosophy.
Tim Heintzelman, pastor at Faith Covenant Church in Westerville, Ohio, was a student under Soneson, having traveled to Haiti with Soneson when he was a college chaplain. Heintzelman was also Soneson's neighbor. He said that no education at North Park would have been complete without a Soneson ethics class.
"Soneson was unorthodox in his teaching style and he challenged us to think independently," said Heintzelman. "In fact, he challenged us so much that they thought he didn't have any faith at all. However, for me, he was life changing. He made me think about some deep theological questions. In one way, Mel was a counterbalance to the typical Bible school teacher. I loved him. I took every class I could with him. He was eye-opening for me and was very formative to people (in his classes) because he wasn't so traditional.
"As a neighbor, he was a good community man," Heintzelman continued. "And as a mentor, taking kids to Haiti, he was kind of like a favorite uncle. The Haitians saw him for what he was, this gentle, wise and kind leader. And when he came down to Haiti, the kids would just run to him and grab him. He was an evangelical in the very best sense of the word. He had a heart of gold and he was one of the theological forces on campus for a long time. He showed us that you can be an evangelical and be a thoughtful person."
In a note to North Park University faculty and staff, President David G. Horner expressed sadness on the part of all who worked with Soneson over the years. "We thank God for the life of Mel Soneson and for the many lives he touched as he helped students to become excited about thinking and learning. Peace be on his memory."
Soneson is survived by his wife, Dagmar, and children Karen, Janet, Jerry and Dan.
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