Music was paramount in Bertha Haugen’s life. For well over a half-century, she never passed up an opportunity to play piano at charity functions in the Denver area.
Her payment was the joy her music brought to others.
“This talented, humble and wise woman set the stage for so many events over the years,” recalls longtime friend Trisha Hood. “We would walk into a home or a hotel ballroom and immediately be charmed into a party mood by her musical talent. And she would always lighten our mood with her contagious laughter.”
Haugen was 92 when she died on Sept. 30. She had been in declining health since a fall at her Denver home in 2013.
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Nov. 15 at , 915 E. Ninth Ave. in Denver. Those attending are asked to wear bright colors and then, as Haugen was fond of telling others, “Go out and have some fun!”
“Our mother was a consummate entertainer, a diehard Denver Broncos fan, an avid gardener and a woman of extraordinary faith,” says her daughter, Kari Epstein, a certified music practitioner. “She also loved hiking and driving in the mountains and going down the tall slide at near Boulder.
Her love of the Broncos helped bring about invitations to play piano at team functions at the home of owner Pat Bowlen.
Born March 3, 1922, to Martin and Sarah Bjorke in Page, N.D., Haugen graduated from Minot State Teacher’s College and the University of North Dakota.
She moved to Colorado as the bride of Dr. Harold Haugen. Even though they eventually divorced, they remained close and she called his children by his second wife “my children of the heart.”
Bertha Haugen was active with such groups as Hearts for Life; the Kempe Foundation Alliance; Denver Center Alliance; Denver Ballet Guild; the Fine Arts Foundation; the Children’s Diabetes Foundation; the University of Denver Women’s Library Association; and Women’s Aglow.
She also received the Central City Opera Guild’s Bell Award and the Denver Chamber Orchestra’s Volunteer of the Year Award.
In addition to Epstein, Haugen is survived by daughter Lee Long of Greenwood, S.C.; her sister, Berniece Swang, of Bismarck, N.D.; and five grandchildren. Another daughter, Lizabeth Haugen, and her brother, Martin Bjorke, preceded her in death, as did her former husband.
The family suggests memorial contributions to , , or any of the groups with which Haugen had been involved.
