Milan Chester Davig
Milan Chester Davig, 94, died peacefully in his sleep in Waconia, MN on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
A Memorial Service will be held 11:00 am January 10, 2025 at St. Stephen Lutheran church, 8400 France Ave S, Edina MN: Visitation 10 am; Special Music and Sing-Along 10:30 am; with a lunch following the service.
Milan Chester Davig, son of Martin and Stella (Christenson) Davig, was born October 8, 1931. His birth was such a shock to him that he lost the capacity for speech for two years and, when it came back it, returned in Norsk! Milan’s three older siblings, Gerda, Christen, and Elling, were already in school when his youngest brother, Paul, was born and so it was that Milan was sent off to country school as well, at the age of 4, having to learn a new language. The transitional language for him was “Kickapoo English.” Subsequently, he became a proud graduate of Pine Knob School District #14. The graduation exercise was generally short as there were only 3 graduates. His dad’s stroke during Milan’s sophomore year of high school was life-changing and demanded he grow up and start doing a man’s work on the family farm at a young age.
Upon graduation from Soldiers Grove High School in 1948, he began studies at Luther College, Decorah IA in the fall. After his freshman year, he took a leave of absence for a year to return to the farm while his brother Elling returned to Luther for his second year. After Milan returned to complete his education at Luther, he received his baccalaureate diploma in 1953. Milan never stopped being grateful for his parental home, the basic values of life that he learned from his parents, and the gift of a sister and brothers and their bond of love and support.
The next fall, he entered Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. In the spring of his first year, Joan Susanne Russeth entered his life, and the relationship began at a Boston Pops concert. Milan interned at Grace Lutheran in Fairmont, MN, where he sold his sky-blue Rocket 88 Oldsmobile to buy a diamond for the hand of the love of his life. After finishing his internship, Joan and Milan were married on August 31, 1956 at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
In the spring of 1957, he received a call to serve his first parish in rural Pelican Rapids—North Immanuel and Grove Lake Lutheran Churches. On the day Milan was to graduate from seminary, he and Joan became parents, with the birth of Martin John. Milan baptized their son at his ordination service at Kickapoo United Lutheran Church near Soldiers Grove, WI (the church built by his grandfather, Jørgen Gerhard Antonson Davig, and the congregation where Milan was baptized and confirmed) and the young family moved to Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. Daughter Ellen Susanne was born in this community which treated them with gentleness and kindness in their expectations and encouragement. In 1962, they received the call to serve Hawley Lutheran, where again they were also to develop deep and lasting lifetime friendships. In the following January (1963), their second son, James Peter, was born. In 1967, with a call to Faith Lutheran in Bagley, the family moved to the north woods of Minnesota. Opportunities for ministry together with Ojibwe people and adults with disabilities added a new dimension to their lives. Again, the family grew as they welcomed the birth of Sara Lynn in 1974.
After fifteen years in Bagley, roots ran deep and it was, as before, hard to leave when an exciting new opportunity for ministry called Milan to serve as Assistant to the Bishop of the Northern MN District of the American Lutheran Church. Following the merger which produced the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Milan received a call to serve as pastor at American Lutheran, Windom, MN where, again, they were overwhelmed with the hospitality of the congregation. In 1991, Gethsemane Lutheran in Dassel called them and Milan, Joan, and Sara were embraced again by kindness in their new home. Their “at home” family grew to four during this time when their foreign exchange student, Fumiko, joined them in Dassel. In 1994, Good Shepherd Lutheran in Moorhead called Milan to serve as Interim Senior Pastor where he served until he was called to serve on synod staff for Northwest Minnesota Synod of the ELCA. Following this, Milan intended to retire but ended up serving as a volunteer in the Joint Rural Life Commission of the ELCA with the Crookston Diocese which overlapped with serving as part-time pastor at First Lutheran in Akeley, which he did for four years. Subsequent to that, Milan served one year part-time as pastor at the UCC church at Walker, MN.
When you are a Norwegian, getting on in years (and with the high price of lutefisk), it is really hard to stop working. And so, the years since were marked by supply preaching, leading classes and seminars and discussion groups, and looking for his glasses. Finally, he realized there were more rewards in indulging in being a grandparent and great grandparent than what work and money could bring. Life has been so full of delights brought not only by their children and their wonderful spouses, but also by grandchildren and great grandchildren. The addition of in-laws and step grandchildren has been an added blessing.
Milan wishes to express his deep thankfulness to family and friends for the love and care he has received and to all those, through the years, who pushed him to see Jesus and the world and the expansiveness of God in new ways.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Martin and Stella (Christenson) Davig; sister and brother-in-law, Gerda (Davig) and Marlyn Hansing, brother and sister-in-law, Christen and Lorraine (Knutson) Davig, brother and sister-in-law Paul and Shirley (Simpson) Davig; godparents Rachel Geneva Tainter Helgeson and Gladys R Christenson Sherry; and a marvelous cloud of witnesses.
Milan is survived by his wife, Joan Susanne (Russeth) Davig, his brother Elling and sister-in-law Joan (Smith) Davig; son Martin John Davig, spouse Bonnie, and their children and grandchildren: Nicole (Bob) Bommelyn and Mya, Ava, and Devin, and Michelle Kelly and Kadence and Bennett, and Danielle (Josh) Kahn and Stiles, and Alexander John Davig, and Sophia Mary Davig; daughter Ellen Susanne (Davig) Holstein and her children and grandchildren: Anders Davig Dovre (Jen) and Nelle Susanne and Nora Lynn; Nels Davig Dovre (Allison); son James Peter Davig and his children Grace Susanne, Peter Aaland, Henry Christen Iver; daughter Sara Lynn (Davig) Atkinson, spouse Daniel, and their children Aiden Dawson, Stella Mae, Liam Davig, and Britta Kay; godchildren: Kirsten (Davig) Benidt, Jon Kuss, Christine Nedrud, Sharon Boyd; and many nieces and nephews.
Memorials to ELCA World Hunger or Global Refuge (formerly LIRS) or givers choice.
Milan donated his body to medical research at the University of Minnesota; internment of ashes will be at a later date in Kickapoo United Cemetery, Soldiers Grove, WI.
Obituary written by Milan. Condolences may be left at ceasefuneralhome.com.