He was born in Fåberg as a son of mason and smallholder Ole Håvemoen (1873–1956) and housewife Anna Mathisen (1870–1962). He took education as a painter, but made a career as a trade unionist in the Norwegian Union of Building Industry Workers, where he was a national board member from 1933 to 1940 and 1945 to 1974. He became a board member of the local Workers' Youth League chapter already in 1923, and remained so until 1932, chairing the chapter from 1924 to 1925 and 1928 to 1930. He served as deputy mayor of Fåberg from 1937 to 1945, except for the years 1941 to 1945 during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. He then became mayor from 1945 to 1957. He was also a member of the school board from 1946 to 1957, as well as many other public committees.[1]
