Beverly Eriksen Gildner

Beverly Eriksen Gildner passed away peacefully at her home on Leech Lake, MN on Saturday, January 4, 2025.  She was 97.

Beverly Gildner was born on a train in Kansas to her parents Dr. Sivert Eriksen and Faye Walker Eriksen on June 16, 1927.  She moved frequently about the U.S. and lived in Iowa, WI, MO, Washington DC, and internationally around the world, including West Berlin, Bonn, Stuttgart, Munich, Germany, Toronto, Canada, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Tehran, Iran, and New Delhi, India.  During this time, she closely supported husband Jay’s 28-year career with The United States Information Agency, including his assignment at the White House as Assistant Press Secretary to President John F. Kennedy, the Agency’s top positions in Washington and abroad, and later his position as Senior Vice President of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.  As part of her unofficial position, she supported the foreign service staff and entertained many dignitaries, authors, sports stars, and astronauts who were introduced abroad as part of the foreign service diplomatic mission.

 Beverly graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a minor in Music.  She was the 1946 Homecoming Queen and met her future husband of 50 years, Jay Gildner, when he drove her in his convertible in the homecoming parade.  As a young adult, Beverly was a camp counselor and taught swimming and music. In high school and University she played the organ in many churches. While in New Delhi, India, Beverly served as a teacher in learning disabilities for multi-national students at the American Embassy School where she pioneered a program for use in other U.S. Department of State school systems in the south Asia region in collaboration with the Regional Psychiatric unit in Washington D.C.

During her travels, she loved to hunt for ancient antiquities and artifacts among the Roman, Greek, Crusader, and Byzantine ruins in the Middle East, where she befriended co-hunter and Israeli Defense Minister, Moshe Dayan.  Part of her collection resides in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.  Beverly was fluent in German, and learned the Spanish, French, and Farsi languages.  Beverly had numerous hobbies including collecting Staffordshire figurines and antiques, and she was an avid tennis player, swimmer and swimming instructor, jogger, hiker, and skier.  She was especially fond of golf which she played to the age 96 at Tianna Country Club in Walker, MN.

 Beverly was preceded in death by her beloved husband Jay Warner Gildner, her parents, Sivert and Faye Eriksen of Claremont, CA, and her sisters Jan Olson-Platt and Shirley Tottingham of Wisconsin.  Survivors include her three sons: Page W. Gildner of Walker, MN ; Gray M. Gildner of Fairfax Station, Va. and wife Jean; and Hunt W. Gildner of Peachtree City, GA with wife Barbara; and five grandchildren Lauren, Dylan, Allison, Emily and Jared, and six great grandchildren, Clark, Rachel, Teddy, Charlotte, Evelyn and Hazel.

Arrangements provided by Whispering Pines Funeral & Cremation Service of Walker & Hackensack, MN.

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