From the Evangelisk Luthersk Kirketidende Volume VIII, No. 46. 18 November 1881, pages 727-28:
O.J.K. Hagestad.
Ole Johan R. Hagestad, former pastor of Rush River and annexed congregations in Pierce and St. Croix counties of Wisconsin, died in the faith of his Savior on the 27th of October at the age of 43 years and 10 months. His surviving wife as well as six children, of whom the two eldest boys are confirmed, mourn the loss of a beloved and faithful spouse and father.
The funeral took place on the 31st of October, on which occasion the undersigned and Pastor Krog of Baldwin officiated. The actual funeral service was held at South Rush River Church by Pastor Krog. He took for his text II Corinthians 5:1-2,[1] and on the basis of this he described 1)the Christians' happy hope in the midst of tribulations with special application to the deceased, 2)why the Christians could have this hope. The application was firstly an exhortation to all to be prepared whenever the Lord might call us away, and secondly an encouragement to believers to stand firm and not betray their Savior, even if one had to sigh under the tribulations of mortal life. And then finally he gave a word of consolation to the bereaved. The Lord gave us on that day a beautiful weather, and a great multitude of people from the surrounding congregations were gathered to show their former priest and pastor the fittest honor.
Hagestad was a priest in the above congregations from the summer of 1863 until the spring of 1876, when he had to resign due to a long-term breast disease. He carried his cross with great patience; he was seldom heard complaining; but he left everything to the faithful care of God. For the past three weeks, he was getting weaker day by day, and he even thought he should have wandered away while I was absent during the Chicago Conference. As soon as I got home and heard about his condition, I traveled to him. One of the first things he told me when I came was that he had asked his wife to greet me in case he should die before he could talk to me and enjoy the sacrament, that the Lord was his shepherd, his rod and staff, who comforted him. The next time I came to him, he had already fallen asleep two hours before.
When he resigned, the congregations subscribed to approximately $2,500 for him, just as the offering is also given to him in the three largest of the congregations he ministered to. I mention this only as an example, other congregations in similar cases might find it useful to follow.
The Lord then have mercy on the bereaved; may He help them and all of us, that we may always be found wearing the garment of Christ's righteousness, so that after the end of toil, struggle, and work down here, we may sit at table with all the elect in the great heavenly wedding feast. Provide this by your grace Lord, for Christ's sake! Amen.
Marcus Thorsen
[1] “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.”
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