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Nils Stockfleth Magelsen Oldberg passed away on Sept. 24, 2022, at the age of 99 years in Blair. Services will be held Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at PassageWay Church in Blair, with family greeting friends from 12 to 2 p.m., and services beginning at 2 p.m. Services will be live streamed by PassageWay Church. Burial will be held 10 a.m., Oct. 9, 2022, in the Center Ridge Presbyterian Church Cemetery north of Red Oak, Iowa, at a later date. Memorials may be directed to the Evangelical Free Church of America “Bibles for Congo” at the following link: https://give.efca.org/?des=Nils%20Oldberg%20Bibles%20For%20Congo%205415.

Nils was born in Kansas City, Mo., on Aug. 14, 1923, to John Efraim and Ingrid (Magelssen) Oldberg. He graduated from Henry C. Kumpf Elementary School and Paseo High School, both in Kansas City. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior when he was about 5 years old and was baptized when he was 9 years old at the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church in Kansas City.

He served a carpenter apprenticeship under his father and was a member of Carpenter’s Union no. 71 in Kansas City. He served three years in the U.S. Navy aboard the submarine Guavina, SS 362 during WWII. Nils received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Missouri in 1950. He was a member of the University of Missouri chapter of the Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship during his college years and was the president of the IVCP for two years. He married Laura Lucille Shields on June 8, 1951. He and Laura became missionaries, serving with the Evangelical Free Church of America from 1951 – 1990. This included one year of studies at Trinity Bible College and Seminary, followed by another year of studies in Belgium to learn French and then to complete the “ Colonial Course” required by the Belgian government for teaching in the Belgium Congo. They arrived in Congo on Oct. 1,1953, to begin their teaching ministry.

Nils also earned a Master’s degree in Secondary Education from the University of Missouri in 1966. He was preparing to teach and be the principal of a new Secondary School started by the Free Church mission in Congo. Nils and Laura served in two different secondary schools in Congo until 1973. Since Nils’ position in Congo, as principal of the teacher training high school, was being filled by a Congo university graduate, and it appeared that their ministry in Congo was ending, they were asked by the Mission to open a new field in Belgium and do church planting.

This required that he go to seminary for two years, earning a Master’s degree in Missions and Evangelism. He was ordained as a minister of the Gospel in September 1977, and in November the couple went to Belgium to begin the work. After starting two churches in the greater Brussels area, they retired in 1990. Nils then served the mission as coordinator of Missionary Construction Teams, recruiting and sending teams to do construction work in many countries where the Mission was involved. He accompanied several of these teams and worked alongside them. In 1996 he retired from the work.

He is survived by, Laura Oldberg, his wife of 71 years, his children; Rachel Ingrid and Nathan Bliss of Rockford, Ill.; David Loren and Karin Oldberg of Blair; Paul Jonathan and Patti Oldberg of Missouri Valley, Iowa. He is also survived by 11 grandchildren and their spouses, and by 28 great-grandchildren.

#2 Funeral leaflet (planned by Nils Oldberg)

Nils Oldberg
Celebration of Life
Prelude: Andre and Sierra Oldberg
Welcome and Invocation: David Oldberg
Congregation: Jesus Thou Joy of Loving Hearts (all 5 verses)
Obituary: Rachel Bliss
Special Song: My Dearest Friend
Words: Nils Oldberg. Reader: Hanna Nikkel. Instumentals. Tune of "The Old Refrain" by Fritz Kreisler, arr. Sierra Oldberg and Karin Oldberg

My Dearest Friend
Jesus will ever be my dearest friend,
And he'll never depart from me ev'n in the end
When sin shall claim its wage, he'll be with me.
When Satan's hosts ensnare, he'll set me free.

For God so loved the world that he did give
His son, His all, for me that I might live;
Sent him to earth to die on Calvary;
Suffering death and shame, made sin for me.

Christ is the lovely one, fairer than all.
His name, above all names, it shall not fall. Jesus, Emmanuel, Lord from above;
I praise his precious name. Give him my love.

Eulogy: Pastor Glen Hudson

Congregation: Amazing Grace (all 5 verses). The last verse was written by Nils in Manitowoc, Wisconsin while he awaited the completion of the Submarine on which he would serve. It is:

I love to sing my Savior's praise
And of His grace to me.
He saved me from a burning hell.
Someday his face I'll see.

Special Music: Living for Jesus (6 vocals)--The Oldberg Family
Message: Pastor Nick Bank
Memories: family and friends, led by Paul Oldberg

Congregation: Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine (all three verses)

Closing prayer.

Flag ceremony: American Legion. Taps: Josiah Bliss.

Closing Prayer: Pastor Nick

Postlude: Will Burchell.

Instrumentalists:

Andre Oldberg-violin Sierra Oldberg-piano/guitar

Eleanor McMullen-violin Annie Burchell-violin

Hannah Bliss-piano Joie Burchell-cello

Nate Bliss-ukelele/box drum Karin Oldberg-piano

Will Burchell-harmonica/piano

Carl Bliss-harmonica Erik Oldberg-guitar

Josiah Bliss-trombone Sarah Oldberg-guitar

Interment at the cemetery adjoining the Center Ridge United Presbyterian Church, eight miles north of Red Oak, Iowa.

"Joy in Sorrow"

We tend to think it tragedy,
When loved ones go away;
And sometimes think that God's asleep,
Or hasn't much to say.

But listen friend He sent His Son,
That death should not depress;
And those who die with faith in Him,
Might live in holiness.

A fairer city was never built,
The streets are purest gold;
And Jesus is the shining light,
To saints within His fold.

With joy I'll bid my loved ones go,
For their joy's also mine;
And I will meet them over there,
Where God has banished time.

My flesh may quake, my heart may fear,
But down within my soul,
I find that Christ, my all in all,
Still comforts and consoles.

----Niles Oldberg

(Written by Nils while in the Navy and sent to the wife of a Christian friend who lost his life when his submarine was sunk.)

~~~Obituaries and funeral leaflet courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings and leaflets on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

Find a Grave Memorial #243853425