Bethel remembers Dottie Haugen

For a quarter of a century, Dottie Haugen taught physical education to Bethel students. But it was always more than that for her. “When you talk about me at Bethel, you really need to talk about God,” she once said. Haugen believed she had a mandate to nurture and build up students physically and spiritually. Surrounded by family, she passed away May 19, 2025, at age 87.

Through the years

Born in Buffalo, Minnesota, Haugen graduated from Buffalo High School in 1955 and Wheaton College in 1959. She and her husband raised their two sons in South Minneapolis, and her 41-year physical education career included teaching at South High School, Richfield High School, Golden Valley Lutheran College, and Bethel University. She was actively involved in her church—Hope Church in Richfield, Minnesota—where she played the piano for Sunday School for decades, and she ministered to others through Young Life, Bible Study Fellowship, and neighborhood prayer groups. 

At Bethel

If you didn’t see Haugen on Bethel’s tennis courts, you likely heard her—and her students—shouting “It’s a forehand!” or “It’s a backhand!” Others remember hearing her enthusiastically encouraging them to “Lift up the Lord!” during her aerobics classes. “She was a true believer that physical health and spiritual and mental health were all so intricately interconnected,” says Gretchen Hunt, Bethel’s associate athletic director and head volleyball coach. “And as we watched her in her 60s and 70s teaching tennis and aerobics to college students, we should all be believers.” 

She began teaching at Bethel in 1985 and would later earn her master of education from Bethel in 1993. She said her motivation for teaching came from John 21: “Feed my sheep.” “I am inspired to make physical education fun, so that young people will want to weave physical activity into their lives for a lifetime,” Haugen said. 

For her, the classroom was not just a court or a gym—it was a ministry. With each new semester, she strove to energetically instill in her students intentionality, discipline, and daily commitment—qualities she believed were essential for both physical and spiritual fitness. 

Her legacy

In 2011, Haugen and her family donated a drinking fountain at the Ona Orth Athletic Complex on Bethel’s campus. True to her practical and service-minded heart, she recognized the simple but important need for a fountain and turned it into a meaningful legacy. A plaque beside the fountain displays a verse Haugen selected: “How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?” (Psalm 116:12). She hoped to inspire others to support Bethel through meaningful gifts—no matter the size. 

“She was a force of nature, and one-in-a-million, and Bethel is so privileged to have been a part of her remarkable story,” says Hunt. 

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