OBITUARY Inga H Hoyer April 6, 1928 – September 8, 2018 The perennial caregiver of others will now be cared for in heaven. Inga Helgfrid (nee Kilavik) Hoyer, 90, died Sept. 8, 2018, from a stroke in Lilburn, Georgia.
She suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for at least 15 years. Inga was born in the Vagaholmen village in the municipality of Rodoy, Norway, April 6, 1928, the daughter of Olav and Bertha (Fagermo) Kilavik. Inga’s caregiving duties began when she was young, guiding her blind mother as soon as she learned to walk.
Her endurance was tested once again during Norway’s five years of Nazi occupation, surviving a near deadly bout of meningitis in her early teens because of a lack of supplies and poor living conditions. During World War II, she lived with her parents in a cold, damp, cement basement because wood was no longer available to finish building the family’s house. She met her husband, Bjorn Hoyer, in Trondheim, Norway, and sympathized with his lack of a birth mother and father to raise him, taking him under her wings.
They married in 1951 at the Nidaros Domkirke in Trondheim. They moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after WWII so Bjorn could get an engineering degree at Case Western Reserve University. She did the house cleaning and laundry for the university’s president and his family to pay for room and board.
Inga agreed to perform manual labor and succumb to invisible immigrant status despite having an associate’s degree and working in Norway as a bookkeeper. Like many women of the pre-baby boomer era, Inga financially supported her husband so he could earn his college degree. Her children later learned to admire her for responding to her sense of obligation toward her husband and putting family first.
But the inability to live life to her full potential and lack of a social support system as an immigrant spawned resentment that lasted throughout her adult life. That’s why she encouraged her two daughters and son to become college-educated and follow their dreams. Inga encouraged her husband to remain in the U.S. after he graduated instead of returning to war-torn Norway, which was undergoing reconstruction.
She appreciated the abundance of housing, the expansiveness and freedom in the U.S. Her hometown of Bodø was almost completely flattened after it was bombed repeatedly during WWII. After 23 years in Kokomo, Indiana, where she raised three children while her husband worked at Delco Electronics, Inga and Bjorn moved to Sarasota, Florida, to enjoy the sun, beaches and opportunities to fish for 31 years. Together they went on 23 cruises, enjoying their retirement years to the fullest.
Bjorn died two years ago. Inga leaves behind three children: Karin (Bill) Schwanbeck in Middletown, Connecticut; Grete (Doyle) Letson in Novi, Michigan; and Ted (Leslie) Hoyer in Stone Mountain, Georgia; and three grandchildren: Laura and Sarah Letson, and Elizabeth Hoyer. The family wishes to thank all of the compassionate caregivers at Sunrise Reminiscence Center in Lilburn, Georgia.
They adored her for 4 ½ years for her easy smile and gentle disposition. Funeral services will be private. Inga’s body and Bjorn’s ashes will be buried together at Palms-Robarts Memorial Park in Sarasota, Florida, officiated by Rev.
Stephen Gaulke, Concordia Lutheran Church.
If you found any mistakes, or you would like to add/remove to this obituary, please contact us by email: info@obituary.memorial. We never ask money for this.
