Peggy Ann (Bergen) Harden was born the second child to Jake Fred Bergen and Vivian Grace (Bartel) Bergen on April 18, 1953, in Bakersfield, California. She grew up on the family farm in rural Shafter, California and graduated from Shafter High School in 1971. She accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior at an early age and spent the rest of her life with the singular focus of serving Him, bringing honor to Him and telling other people about Him. She went to be with her Lord on February 9, 2025, after losing her battle with cancer.
After finishing high school, she enrolled in Tabor College where she met her beloved husband, Glen Owen Harden, and the two were married on December 28, 1973. Initially pursuing a drama major, she changed to pre-nursing after her marriage and completed her pre-nursing courses at Tabor. Upon Glen’s graduation, the couple moved to Wichita where she enrolled in St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing graduating with a diploma degree as a registered nurse. During this time their first child, Kerry, was born. When Glen was accepted into medical school, they moved to Kansas City where she was employed as a labor and delivery nurse, and their second child, Eli, was born. A subsequent move back to Wichita allowed her husband to finish medical school and complete residency training, and during this time Peggy taught childbirth classes from her home and also expanded the family with the births of their third child, Seth, and their fourth child, Timbrel. The couple then moved to Atwood, Kansas where her husband was in private practice and Peggy began home schooling her children. During this time, their fifth child, Josh, was born. Moving to Dodge City, Kansas, she continued to be a full-time mom and home school all the children.
When the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa in 1989, she continued to be a full-time at home mom and continued to home school but eventually relegated the schooling tasks to the public schools. It was during this time that she became involved in short-term summer mission trips, along with the children, and she made trips to Thailand, Zimbabwe and India. With the India trip, she was hooked and fell in love with the Indian culture. But it wasn’t until many years later that she was actually able to fulfill her desire to serve in India. Becoming involved with a mission organization, Children to Love, International, she began making annual trips to Romania to teach sewing classes to disadvantaged women so that they might have a livelihood enabling them to keep their children out of an orphanage, and to share the love of Jesus Christ with them. After four years of annual trips to Romania, CTL opened up a ministry in India, and she knew immediately what she should do. For the next ten years she made annual trips to India, teaching disadvantaged women to sew and providing them with a sewing machine and startup materials so they could have a livelihood so as to support their families and get out of being trafficked, all the while showing the amazing love of Jesus Christ to them-not in word but in deed. With progressing health problems, she had to discontinue her annual trips but was able to make one last visit in 2022 to see the continuation of the sewing school program which had been taken over by the local believers.
Peggy was preceded in death by her parents, Jake and Vivian, and her sister Gail Loveless (Don). She is survived by her husband, Glen, of McCook Lake, SD. She leaves behind, also her children, Kerry Diehl-Hauser (Jeff) of Addison, TX, Eli Harden (Angie) of Colby, KS, Seth Harden (Jessica) of Marina del Rey, CA, Timbrel Eunson (Paul) of Atwood, KS, Josh Harden (Monika) of Atwood, KS, and a step-daughter, Lara Felts (David) of Wichita, KS. She also leaves behind 12 grandchildren: Jake, Jamie, Nick, Hali, Thomas, Belle, Jonah, Avery, Lola, Amy, Isaac and Aria and two great-grandchildren, Daisy and Violet. Also, her brother, Kelly; her nieces Jill and Amy; and her nephews, Greg and Paul.
Her life was one of service, love and dedication to spreading compassion and the love of Jesus Christ across the globe. She will be deeply missed but her legacy will continue through the lives of those she touched.
Iowa Services: Visitation will be from 5-8 PM at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel in Sioux City on Thursday, February 13, 2025, and a memorial service will be held at RiverzEdge Church in Sioux City at 10:30 AM Saturday, February 15, 2025, with a luncheon to follow.
Kansas Services: Visitation is from 10-11:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 18, 2025, at Baalmann Mortuary, Atwood. With a graveside service to follow at 11:10 a.m. in Fairview Cemetery, Atwood.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to RiverzEdge Church for the sewing ministry in India, to help continue the amazing work there and sent in care of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or condolences visit baalmannmortuary.com
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