Ebba Sophia Sorge

Sorge—Ebba Sophia Sorge, 100, of Florence, passed away on July 7, 2012.

Ebba had celebrated her 100th birthday July 1.

Ebba lived in the Florence area since 1990, having moved here from Madera, Calif.

She was born in the Vinland Colony, a Swedish community near Kerman, Calif. She grew up on her parents’ vineyard, where her father raised Thompson seedless grapes used for Sunmaid Raisins.

After graduating from high school, Ebba attended nurses training in San Francisco. Shortly after, she fully committed her life to the Lord and decided to continue her education at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis.

While attending there, Ebba felt her call to missionary work in Africa. Her first five-year missionary assignment was in Tanzania. She returned to the states and attended a midwifery course in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky in the rural town of Hyden, where she was one of the “Women on Horseback,” as midwives were called there.

Her second five-year missionary assignment was again in Tanzania from 1954 to 1959.

When Ebba returned to the states, she lived in the Madera area. She met again Eric Sorge, who had been her sweetheart in the early years.

They were married in 1962 and were married only one year when he died of a sudden illness.

Ebba continued to live in the central valley of California and to work in the public health nursing field. She was very involved in community and church activities. She also was very devoted to her family living in the area. She traveled many times to Sweden, where she had many relatives and friends, and also entertained many visitors from Sweden who loved to visit Yosemite and the California region.

Ebba moved to the Florence area in the early 1990s to be near her nephew, Allen Engman, and his wife, Jeanne. She made many friends in Florence, attending the Siuslaw Valley Christian Church and also Aglow Women’s ministry.

She especially enjoyed her years living at the Shorewood retirement community.

She lived the last three years of her life at Elderberry Square, where she enjoyed music and the other activities provided by the staff at the facility.

Her nephew, Allen Engman, preceded her death in 2011.

She is survived by Allen’s wife, Jeanne, and his daughter, Cheri Payne, of Florence; her cousin, Grace Dahlroth of Florence; many nieces, nephews and cousins living outside of the Florence area; and members of the Sorge Family living in the Fresno area of California.

Burns’s Riverside Chapel is in charge of arrangements.



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