Halldis (Birkedal) Skarli was born May 17, 1933 on the Birkedal farm, Landvik community, Aust-Agder county, Norway. She died of advanced Parkinson’s disease December 23, 2019 in Lexington, South Carolina. Interment at Martinus Hogenkamp Cemetery, New City, NY, January 4, 2020.
The daughter of the departed Olav Nilsen Birkedal and Jensine Risbruna, she is survived by her siblings Karl Birkedal and Ingrid Andersen who remain in Norway. Also departed are her siblings Nils Birkedal, Helge Birkedal, Olaug Halvorsen and Finn Birkedal.
She emigrated from Norway, arriving in NY on the ship “Stavangerfjord”, Feb 24, 1954, residing first on Early Street on City Island, NY with her aunt and uncle, Elise and Nils Halvorsen. She met Nils Magnus Skarli on his first Sunday in America at the First Evangelical Free Church in Brooklyn, NY in June of 1955. After confirming he was the brother of Solveig Skarli (Farkas) whom she knew from the Filadelfia church in their hometown of Grimstad, she invited him to the Fourth of July picnic held at the Park Evangelical Free Church in New City, NY. This is the church adjacent to the Martinus Hogenkamp Cemetery where she will be laid to rest. They were married on September 8, 1956 at the Salem Gospel Church, Brooklyn, NY.
Due to post-war economic struggles, she attained the equivalent of an eighth grade education in Norway. After an inspirational time of hospital visitation for, now longtime friends, the Basgaard family, she obtained her GED at the age of 40 to pursue a career in nursing. She graduated the Licensed Practical Nursing program at BOCES in West Nyack, NY, becoming registered as a New York State Licensed Practical Nurse on 06/10/1975. She spent 19 years as an obstetric nurse at Nyack Hospital and in a New City private practice.
After their marriage, Nils and Halldis were immersed in church service, starting with the Salem Gospel Church as well as its String Band, and its outreach ministry to destitute immigrants, the Carl Street Mission in Brooklyn, NY. After moving out of Bay Ridge Brooklyn to Spring Valley, they were founding members of a house church that grew to the American Legion Hall in Pearl River, ultimately becoming Faith Assembly of God, in Spring Valley (Chestnut Ridge), NY. She was involved in Women’s Ministries, Prayer groups, and hospitality. She hosted dozens of missionary families overnight, including some who became lifelong friends. She took into her home children from broken homes, extended family members for multiple years and ultimately her elderly mother-in-law until health issues required more extensive care. She put her daughter through nursing school and helped putting her son through medical school.
Along with her spouse of 63 years, she is survived by her daughter Esther Jane Mayz, RN, and her family: Manuel Mayz, Kurtis Alexander Mayz, MD, JD, Daniel Franklyn Mayz and his wife Nicole with great-grandson Easton, Kirstin Elena Mayz, and Derik Nils Mayz. She is also survived by her son Stanley Olaf Skarli, MD, and his family: Melinda Johnson Skarli, Hannah Elise Skarli, Christian Olaf Skarli, and Gabriel Hans Skarli. She leaves a legacy of a family rooted in Christ, with a strong work ethic and a commitment to service of others.
Philippians 3:20 (BBE) For our country is in heaven; from where the Saviour for whom we are waiting will come, even the Lord Jesus Christ: By whom this poor body of ours will be changed into the image of the body of his glory, in the measure of the working by which he is able to put all things under himself.
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