Agnes Theodora Braaten Mahoney Akland, of Saint Peter, Minn., died peacefully at home Sept. 4, 2014, after living valiantly with cancer since 2009. Agnes was born on Oct. 31, 1923 to Lutheran missionaries, Torstein and Clara Braaten, in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar. She attended the American School in Fort Dauphin until 1938, when Agnes and her sister, Arlene, moved to the US to attend Augustana Academy, a Lutheran boarding high school in Canton, S.D. Here she first met Leonard Akland, whom she would later marry.

Agnes started at St. Olaf College majoring in music and piano. She later transferred to Augustana College to be with her younger sister, Arlene. It was during this time that she met and married a young serviceman, Bill J. Mahoney, with whom she had one child, Gloria Akland Buczek ’67, before he was tragically killed while on duty as a Texas Highway patrolman. Agnes returned with Gloria to Northfield, Minn.,where she worked and completed her degree and was thrilled to sing in the St. Olaf Choir under Olaf Christiansen. On the day she graduated, June 4, 1951, she married Dr. Leonard R. Akland. Mark Steven was born in 1952 and Carolyn Akland ’78 in 1956.

In 1959, Agnes returned to Madagascar with her family as Len responded to a call to serve as a missionary doctor at Manambaro Lutheran Hospital. She taught music to the missionary children living at Trano Vato, the Missionary Children’s Home. Agnes was also very involved with the Malagasy women of the church. Agnes had a heart for the Malagasy people which continued all of her life.

The family retired from the mission field and returned to the US in 1969, and Leonard started a practice in Thousand Oaks, Calif. In 1975, hearing of the grave lack of funding for medical missions in Madagascar, Agnes and Leonard joined with other missionaries to start Global Health Ministries to meet this need. This organization has continued as a passion for both Agnes and Leonard.

Agnes is remembered for her music ministry, her strong and abiding faith, her generosity, her many friendships, her contagious sense of humor, her radiant smile, her highly esteemed roles as missionary, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend. Her presence will be greatly missed, but her legacy lives on in the many lives she touched.

Agnes is survived by her husband, Leonard; daughters, Gloria Buczek and husband John and Carolyn Akland and partner Jeannie; son, Mark Akland and wife Susie; grandchildren, Adam Buczek and wife Kanya, William Buczek and wife Christine, and John David Lackey and wife Stacy. She has seven great-grandchildren: Emma, Leah, Noah, Lana, Stanley, Jackson, and Anna Grace. She is also survived by two brothers, Folkvard Braaten ’51 and wife Betty Smith Braaten ’51 and The Rev. Dr. Carl Braaten ’51 and wife June “LaVonne” Gardner Braaten ’52. She was preceded in death by her sister, Arlene Moen and husband James.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to: Global Health Ministries, Minneapolis; Trinity Lutheran Church, Saint Peter; or St. Olaf College Music Department, Northfield.