Primary Name: Berggren, Iona Messer
Filed as: berggren_iona_messer
Also known as: Iona Messer Berggren
Occupation / Association: State of Alaska employee; President, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Women’s Igloo (1956)
Born: March 20, 1914, Bellingham, Washington
Died: March 31, 2007, Juneau, Alaska
Parents: Jack Messer; Mabel Furr
Spouse: Henning Berggren (m. August 2, 1933)
Children: Elvirid H. Berggren (b. September 27, 1934); Nancy I. Berggren (b. October 19, 1936)
Associated places: Bellingham, Washington; Juneau, Alaska; Douglas, Alaska; Evergreen Avenue; Starr Hill
Keywords: Iona Messer Berggren, Iona Berggren, Berggren family Juneau, Juneau Women's Igloo presidents
Biography
Iona Messer Berggren served as President of the Juneau Women’s Igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska in 1956.
She was born March 20, 1914, in Bellingham, Washington, the daughter of Jack Messer and Mabel Furr. She grew up in Juneau and was active in youth organizations, including the Camp Fire Girls.
Iona attended Juneau High School as part of the first freshman class to use the new high school building. She played basketball for Juneau High and graduated in 1932. She later fondly recalled traveling by boat to Douglas for basketball games, where the gym was heated by wood stoves and curtains were hung to serve as changing rooms. Even into her sixties, she enjoyed attending games and enthusiastically cheering—often loudly—at both players and referees.
She met her husband, Henning Berggren, while they were both students at Juneau High School. He lived up Starr Hill while she lived at the foot of the hill. They married on August 2, 1933, and purchased their only home at the top of Evergreen Avenue. At the time, the bank hesitated to loan them money because the house was considered so far outside the main part of town.
The couple had two children: their son, Elvirid H., born September 27, 1934, and their daughter, Nancy I., born October 19, 1936.
Iona served on the advisory board for the Order of Rainbow Girls and was a Girl Scout leader in the 1940s. After her husband’s death in 1948, she learned to drive, took dancing lessons, and entered the workforce. She worked for the State of Alaska for seventeen years before retiring in 1979.
Iona Messer Berggren died March 31, 2007, at the Juneau Pioneers’ Home.
Sources
1930 and 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau; Gastineau Channel Memories, Vol. III, p. 26.
Tags: Iona Messer Berggren, Berggren family, Juneau Women's Igloo, Juneau pioneers, Juneau High School alumni