When Sophia Karen Heggen was born on July 20, 1881, in Trondheim, Sor-Trondelag, Norway, her father, Laurentz, was 28, and her mother, Elen, was 26. She married Lewis VeVea in 1900. They had eight children in 17 years. She died on November 26, 1960, in Pennington, Minnesota, at the age of 79, and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.