Drizzle / 57° F
Language Villages founder dies at age 84
Published 10:48am Wednesday, October 24, 2012The founder of Concordia College’s Language Villages, a program that teaches foreign languages to thousands of students, has died at age 84.
Family members say Gerhard “Gerry” Haukebo was fascinated with foreign countries and their cultures even as a boy and used that passion to create Language Villages in 1961, a program that now teaches 15 languages to more than 11,000 children from around the world each year.
The Wright Funeral Home says Haukebo died at his home in Pelican Rapids Sunday.
After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Haukebo taught American children at a military base in Germany. In 1959, he joined the faculty at Concordia, organized a summer camp to teach children German and eventually launched Language Villages.
