On this day in 1987, the Bismarck Tribune published a moving story about the memorial service for Karen Ivesdal. About 300 of the 416 residents of Edmore gathered to celebrate the short life of the Edmore native. Miss Ivesdal had been tragically murdered in Zimbabwe the previous week, a day before her 32nd birthday.
Miss Ivesdal grew up on a farm in Prospect Township outside of Edmore. She graduated with honors from Edmore High School in 1974. She was president of the Student Council, involved in the yearbook, Girls State, played basketball, emceed the homecoming coronation, and s gave a speech at graduation. She graduated as an animal-health technician from a branch of the University of Minnesota. She moved to Choteau, MT in 1978 and worked at a veterinary technician. In 1984 she moved to a farm near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to work as a missionary for the Pentecostal Community for Reconciliation. She taught local women how to sew and did chores around the farm. The missionaries tended to gardens, operated a store, ground corn, and employed local villagers. Miss Ivesdal briefly came back to North Dakota in 1986 when her father had surgery, but returned to Zimbabwe in January, 1987.
While the missionaries Miss Ivesdal toiled on the farm and built relationships with the locals, Zimbabwe was in the throes of violence and unrest as the government and dissidents were locked in guerilla warfare. While Miss Ivesdal was visiting her family in North Dakota, dissident rebels invaded the missionary farm and stole anything of value. This did not deter her from returning to Zimbabwe. After the Zimbabwean government evicted squatters from the farm due to the missionaries’ complaints, the rebels vowed revenge. On November 26, 1987, twenty rebels marched to the farm and rounded up all of the missionaries. Sixteen missionaries, including Miss Ivesdal, were killed. One child escaped and hid, and another child was spared to give a note to authorities. Another victim was David Emerson, who was also from Choteau, MT.
The murders shocked the world, especially since five children were killed. On December 2nd a memorial ceremony was held for Miss Ivesdal at the Concordia Lutheran Church in Edmore. Miss Ivesdal’s mother Norma, reflecting on her daughter’s death said, “Sometime, somehow, there will be results of this that we can hardly understand now.” A month after the massacre a unity accord was signed in Zimbabwe which eventually led to rebel groups laying down their arms.
Dakota Datebook by Trista Raezer-Stursa
Sources:
“2 Americans Followed Path to Zimbabwe That Brought Peace, Then Death,” The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, January 24, 1988, pg. 12A.
