Covenant News

Service Saturday for C. Rodney Rosengren

DULUTH, MN (November 2, 2001) - Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday for retired Covenant pastor C. Rodney Rosengren, who died Tuesday morning (October 30) at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth.

The funeral for the 87-year-old Rosengren will be at Ben Wade Covenant Church. Northwest Conference Supt. Paul H. Erickson and David Wallin will officiate. Internment will be in the church cemetery.

Born April 22, 1914, near Lowry, Minnesota, Carl Rodney Rosengren was the son of Carl and Freda (Anderson) Rosengren - one of six children born to a farming family that relied on the children to help on a daily basis. Rosengren's intelligence and leadership skills were evident at a young age. At Minnehaha Academy's high school, Rosengren earned valedictorian honors in 1938. He attended North Park Junior College and later became a Dean's List scholar while earning his undergraduate degree in English at Augsburg College in Minnesota. He married Beatrice Enge on October 9, 1943, and became an ordained Covenant pastor in 1948 after graduating from North Park Theological Seminary.

Rosengren served the Elim Mission Church of Cokato, Minnesota, from 1946 to 1955. A son, Timothy, was born during that period. Rosengren moved to Ripon, California, pastoring Bethany Covenant Church from 1955 to 1970 and serving on the California Conference Board of Publication and the Board of Directors for the Bethany Home of Turlock. He was a board member for what is now known as Emanuel Medical Center, which helped plan and design a new hospital in central California.

From 1970 to 1979, Rosengren served First Covenant Church in Virginia, Minnesota. He retired thereafter and moved back near his hometown, serving in various interim pastorates in and around Lowry. In 1994, C. Rodney and Beatrice moved to Duluth to be near their son.

Rosengren is survived by his wife of 58 years, Beatrice, son Timothy and his wife, Deborah, and two grandchildren (Alexander and Anna) in Duluth. One surviving sister, Ruth Bjurlin, and a surviving brother, Walter (and wife Margaret), live in Alexandria. He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Rose Bjurlin and Myrtle Lundblad and brothers Paul and Victor Rosengren.

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