CHS, church families celebrate lives of beloved couple

PALMER — Among the tears and mixed emotions engulfing the hundreds of mourners gathered in the Colony High School gym Friday to celebrate the lives of Randy and Doris Bjerken, laughter and joy seemed the most prevalent.

That’s probably exactly what “the John Wayne of the pulpit” and the school’s most avid practical joker wanted. Randy, 51, was pastor at Matanuska Assembly of God and Doris, 50, an administrative secretary at Colony High School.

Though their lives were unexpectedly cut short as they strolled down a Scottsdale, Ariz., sidewalk on Mother’s Day, friends and family imagined the Palmer parents of four had served their intended purpose. They figure that through their deaths on the same morning after a 23-year-old driver lost control of his SUV, others might realize the same happiness they’d found serving God.

“I was with Corey and Kenzie Monday night as they picked up Courtney from the airport,” Alaska Youth Ministries Director Mark Zweifel said of the Bjerken children the day after losing their parents May 8. “Corey said with a smirk on his face, ‘If my dad knew it would have been this easy to fill up a church, he would have died a long time ago.’ ”

The room filled with CHS staff and students dressed in green and white and Matanuska Assembly of God members in black roared as they began to see things from a different perspective.

Zweifel said he believes Pastor Randy and his wife of 28 years are together in heaven, having a great time. He believes they are getting a lot of joy out of all the people who were hearing the word of the Lord that day.

Colony Middle School Principal Mary McMahon, whose husband Brendon McMahon is an assistant principal at CHS, has known the Bjerken family for several years and is of the same belief when it comes to being a Christian.

“They are such an amazing family,” she said as she waited to give the youngest child, 16-year-old Kenzie, a hug after Friday’s service. “Everything about them is beautiful and their kids are the best. They’re the perfect role models. I was thinking about what I could do to help and I now have my answer: I need to live life closer to the Lord. That’s exactly what they want us to do.”

CHS choir teacher Lani Monds wiped a tear from her eye as she watched Kenzie and her siblings — 25-year-old Chris, 24-year-old Corey and 20-year-old Courtney — surrounded by friends and family.

Monds said Courtney had been in the choir a few years prior and Kenzie is a percussionist in the school band. She said that although it’s always hard to perform at a memorial service of someone you know and love, she felt having her students sing a peaceful song at the beginning of the service was the least she could do.

“The grief isn’t for them, it’s for all of us left behind,” Monds said. “I know where Doris and her husband are. There’s no doubt in my mind. And being able to have a big service like this in a school and preach the word of God, that was amazing. There’s no ending to this life. It goes on.”

Alaska Assemblies of God Superintendent Bill Welch told those gathered that Corey Bjerken had said to him that it means so much to see a small army of people who loved his parents.

“We received numerous phone calls, emails and Facebook messages expressing condolences across the state and literally around the world,” Welch said.

One woman from Fairbanks called the Frontiersman last week when she heard the devastating news about the accident. She said she and her three siblings were about the same ages as the Bjerken children when they lost both of their parents in a car accident on the Parks Highway in 1995.

“So this really hit home for me,” she said. “I know what they’re probably going through and I’m praying they will find strength in their faith.”

During Friday’s celebration, Muldoon Community Assembly Executive Pastor Fay Niemann shared the obituary written for the beloved couple.

In the obituary, Matanuska Assembly of God family said Pastor Randy was a “10” when it came to pastoring. His wife loved the church as well, and served as its church director for many years.

Doris’ CHS family called her “the glue that helped hold us together” and that if there was a practical joke to be had, she’d be right in the middle of it.

The children wrote for the obituary: “We are blessed to have not only known them as parents, but also as people who instilled values within each of us. We are comforted by their example to live a life greater than itself. Through their extended kindness, our parents reached countless souls across the globe with an uncompromising selflessness.”

At the end of their children’s statement, they let all those present know that they are not saying goodbye to their parents.

“We thank God for having lived life as one, our parents were able to walk through the gates of heaven, hand in hand,” they wrote. “Though our parents will be missed dearly and will be forever loved by their children and family, including their church family, we know that we will be caught up in the clouds one day with them.”

An account to assist the family with expenses has been established at the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union under “Bjerken Donation Account” No. 1600348.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.