Kirsten Bruun Havrehed

Our beloved and dear Kirsten Bruun Havrehed passed away peacefully with loving friends and family by her side on September 15th in San Francisco at Maitri Hospice. Kirsten was born in Denmark on September 8, 1927, the fourth of five children born to Magdalena and Holger Havrehed. As an adolescent, she and her family endured the privations and dangers of World War II. After the war, her Uncle Christian invited Kirsten to join him and his wife to live with them in San Francisco. Kirsten arrived in 1948 at age 21 and lived with her Uncle Christian and Aunt Margrit.

Kirsten was a devoted Christian who lived her faith. She joined the Danish church in San Francisco, Ansgar Evangelical Lutheran Church, which became St. Francis Lutheran Church in the early 1960s. She was a life long and very active member of St. Francis, serving on the Council, numerous committees and every activity until her passing. Kirsten worked as a nurse’s aide in the newborn nursery at St. Mary’s hospital, and later went to school to be a Medical Secretary. But Kirsten’s true calling was to be a teacher, earning her teaching degree from San Francisco State College. In 1973 she received the prestigious national Outstanding Teacher of America award.

Kirsten cared for her terminally ill aunt Margrit at home, where she died peacefully. Her aunt’s death had a profound effect on Kirsten, and in 1977 she started her long commitment to the Hospice movement and became the first volunteer for Hospice of San Francisco, helping patients and staff. She felt this was her calling and later added volunteering for Coming Home Hospice and Maitri Hospice. Besides her years of compassionate volunteer work, she delivered homemade cookies and brought and arranged flowers. Kirsten also started a wonderful annual Holiday Boutique at her home. She prepared and sold her delicious homemade preserves, cookies and fruitcake, botanical cards, other holiday treats and her fabulous ebelskiver. It was Kirsten’s way of celebrating Christmas with many of her good friends, while also fundraising thousands of dollars of donations annually for hospices in San Francisco.

Kirsten was an active member of the Danish American Women’s Club of San Francisco and the Aldersly Auxiliary. She enjoyed many interests including, Danish and U.S. history, quilting, museum visits, gardening, traveling, recruiting volunteers and encouraging friends and family.

Kirsten will be remembered for her wonderful positive spirit, inclusiveness, her compassion for social causes and justice, her wonderful laughter, tireless energy and drive, her baking and cooking and being a true best friend to all. Kirsten was preceded in death by her siblings in Denmark, and is survived by many close relatives in Denmark, Germany, the US and Canada.

Kirsten’s memorial service and Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, November 17th at 4:00 p.m. at St. Francis Lutheran Church, 152 Church Street. www.sflcsf.org. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to Maitri Compassionate Care, or St. Francis Lutheran Church.

Born on Telegraph Hill in the shadows of what would become Coit Tower. An Italian girl raised in North Beach, a member of the second of 4 generations of proud native-born San Franciscans. Fell hard for a charming blue-eyed Irishman, and eloped to Reno at age 19. Prior to this, after dancing to ‘Deep Purple’ at the 1939 Worlds’ Fair, she told a friend that she had “never felt like this before.” She was advised that she was in love.

A clever, strong, patient woman who never ceased to amaze, Pauline raised 6 children with the love of her life : Bill (Annette), Dan (Beverly), Victoria, Mark, Carol, and Mary (Kent). Predeceased by husband Bill, sons Daniel and Mark, and grandson Mark Jr. Loving grandmother to Michele, Nathan, Amy, Matthew, Stephanie, Michael, Mark Jr., Kelly, and Casey. Great-grandmother to 8.

Pauline had a strong sense of pride, love, and determination. She dedicated herself to her brood, and later entered the world of retail sales in Downtown San Francisco. If she couldn’t sell it, it couldn’t be sold.

Pauline was a force to be reckoned with, feisty until her dying day. As a young lady, while attending