Murrae Freng directs his final service

This quartet of Alexandria grads sang in the last high school choir to be directed by Murrae Freng, who resigned in 1965 to join the Minnesota State High School League.
From left, Robert Johnson, Stan Rolfsrud, Sara Smith Sevey, Bruce Phelps.

Music filled the enormous nave of the big old Lutheran Church on Highway 101 in Maple Grove this morning where gentle folk had gathered for a Memorial Service befitting the memory of Murrae N. Freng. And fitting it would be, for Murrae himself had worked diligently to get it just the way he wanted it.
He delegated the execution of his thoughtful plan to the able Bruce Phelps, who has drawn a lifetime of inspiration and mentoring from Mr. Freng, beginning in elementary school in Alexandria, where Freng spent 14 years leading the community in song, as a director of choral music in the public schools and at the First Lutheran Church.
Traditional hymns, piano pieces and a violin solo, "Meditation from Thais" by Massenet, preceded spoken remembrances and then two stunning vocal solos by Esther Peterson of Kerkhoven, Minnesota. Her renditions of "Pie Jesu" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Mallotte's "The Lord's Prayer," made it easy to see why Murrae Freng has long followed and admired the singing career of this outstanding young soprano.

Freng was so well-known in Alexandria that
none of his kids wanted to go to town to run
errands with him. "It always took too long,"
his son Al remembered.

Freng included some easy-to-sing hymns for the large congregation of Norwegians and others to sing with gusto and in harmony, ending with "O Day Full of Grace" and "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less."
The Frengs left Alexandria in 1965 to begin his next career at the Minnesota State High School League, retiring as its President in 1985 and moving back to Alexandria. There he, his wife Helen, Beverly Rolfsrud and others founded Shalom Lutheran Church.
After a very active retirement on Lake Ida in Alexandria, Murrae and Helen moved back to the Twin Cities in 2005 to be near their family. Murrae died at home surrounded by family on May 31, 2014 at the age of 89. According to today's printed program, "He will return to Alexandria for his final resting place, leaving behind family and friends who all hope to grow up to be just like him: kind, gentle, thoughtful and supportive."