Muriel Nelson Beroza

Muriel Elaine Nelson Beroza died peacefully, on December 27, 2024, at the age of 98, after a long and productive life. A proud native of San Francisco, she was born on March 21, 1926, to Anita Marie Rostad and Gustav Ivar Nelson. Always an excellent student, she was her high school's valedictorian and went on to the University of California, Berkeley, the first in her family to attend university. She studied public health and epidemiology, and after graduation, she and her mother traveled to Norway to visit relatives, strengthening her ties to her Scandinavian heritage.
After an extended stay in Norway, Muriel returned to graduate studies in public health at Berkeley. Soon after her return, she met and married Paul Powell Beroza, a Stanford graduate student she met on a blind date. They settled in southern California, where he became a professor at the University of Southern California. They had six children there and eventually moved to Paradise Valley, Arizona when Paul began work at Motorola.
Muriel read widely and pursued varied interests, in addition to all of the work involved in raising a big family. In Arizona, she was involved with the Arizona Lung Association and the League of Women Voters. She also volunteered and worked at the Desert Botanical Garden for many years, and was certified as a master gardener in Arizona and later in California.
After her husband Paul's death in 2000, Muriel made her way back to the Bay Area to be closer to several of her children and the Swedish-American community she cherished. She was always active in Swedish-American organizations in the Bay Area and was a busy member of Sveadal, a summer community that celebrates Swedish-American heritage, where her parents owned a cabin and which was a place she dearly loved. Muriel wrote her first book about Sveadal in 1976 followed in 2000 by Golden Gate Swedes, a more extensive study of Swedish-American history in the Bay Area. Muriel wrote articles for Vestkusten and Nordstjernan on Swedish-American history, gave lectures, and acted as an informal historian of the Swedish-American community. She worked as a member of the Swedish American Hall Library and Archives Committee for many years.
Muriel received various acknowledgements of her contributions, notably the Sveadal Medallion in 1977, from the Swedish American Patriotic League, and an Award of Merit from the Swedish Council of America in 2000.
Muriel was preceded in death by her parents and brother Ivar. Muriel is survived by her six children Anne, Barbara, Paula, Greg, Paul and Carolina; her ten grandchildren Michael, Joan, Valerie, Alexander, Sonya, Anita, Paul, Stephen, Leif and Wyatt; and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial is planned for the spring in Sveadal. If you would like to honor Muriel's legacy, donations can be made to the Sveadal Memorial Fund c/o Debbie Allustiarti at 1031 Cherry Avenue #39, San Bruno, CA 94066.