On Saturday, Dec. 9, nearly 100 family members and friends of lifelong Cloquet resident Cora Berglund gathered at the Carlton Inter-Faith Care Center to pay their respects and offer her birthday greetings.
On Tuesday, Dec. 12, Cora reached the 100-year-old milestone, the first member of the Berglund or Lund families in either America or their native Sweden to achieve centenarian status.
Among the well-wishers were Cora's five children, Dorothy Bassett, Robert Berglund, June Bong, Jeanette Johnson and Russell Berglund. Many of her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, as well as numerous nieces and nephews, were also present. Cora's sister, Clara Jaakola, also a lifelong Cloquet resident, was also present. Sister Betty Swanson, living in Florida, could not attend but phone Cora Saturday morning to send Cora her birthday wishes.
Cora Berglund was born Dec. 12, 1906, near Hisvala and Ronnas in Sweden. She was the third of nine children born to Anders and Britta Lund, who immigrated to the United States in 1910 with four children, Olaf Sigfried, Anna, Karin (Cora) and Anders (Andrew). Once the family was settled in America, the other five children were born, and they were Britta (Betty) Bror Albert, Ida, Clara and Vernon.
Anders and Britta Lund owned a farm in Perch Lake Township, about six or seven miles from the farm of another Swedish immigrant family, Oscar and Ida Berglund of Brevator Township. As a teenager, Cora occasionally visited the Berglund farm with friend violet Santti, and they and sisters Esther and Irene Berglund were all very close. Eventually she began to keep steady company with a tall, strapping young lad named Leonard Berglund, the older brother of the Berglund girls. The two fell in love, were married on march 18, 1926, and were together for 74 years until Leonard died on March 5, 2000, at age 95.
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The couple purchased 80 acres of farm land near Oscar and Ida's farm, where they raised their family. Besides their five children, the descendants of Cora and Leonard Berglund include 19 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and at last count, eight great-great-grandchildren. Cora and Leonard had a long and happy life together, their key to happiness and longevity being hard work, simple living and plenty of fresh air (windows open, even in winter).
Among the many birthday cards received was a special card from Cora's cousin in Leksand, Sweden, Bror Jobs, who sent greetings on behalf of all the Swedish relatives. Bror and his late wife, Svea, visited Cloquet during the 1970s and Cora and Leonard had the opportunity to visit Sweden as well around 1976. Cora also received a message from Congressman Jim Oberstar and one from the President and First Lady of the United States, George and Laura Bush. Minnesota State Representative Mary Murphy was on hand to personally wish Cora a happy birthday and offer congratulations to the entire family on behalf of the State Legislature.
