Remembering Mom

Mom was born in Benson County, North Dakota in 1935 to Harold and Edith.

As a child mom was a bit of a tomboy and got into many adventures with her older brother, Harold Lloyd, which sometimes resulted into his getting into trouble even though she was the instigator.

After her mother and father divorced in 1939, mom lived with her father until he died in 1948. She lived with a family in Leeds, ND until she graduated from the Leeds High School in 1953.

Then mom was off to Minot to realize her dream of becoming a nurse. She attended the Trinity School of Nursing from 1953 until she graduated in September 1956. She worked as a RN at Trinity Hospital eventually becoming the head nurse on the surgical floor.

Mom ‘retired’ from nursing around the time of the birth of her second son, Devan, in 1964. One of her classmates from the nursing school attended mom's funeral service and told me afterwards that she, and most nurses at the time, quit nursing after having children. A different world back then.

Mom met my dad, a farmer at the time, when he was a patient at Trinity Hospital. She married him in October 1956. They were married until 1991. From my dad's mother, mom learned to make veranicky, which she and her sons loved to eat.


In 1959 dad and mom built a small trailer park in Minot. They owned and operated the trailer park until they sold it in 1979.

After the sale of the trailer park mom then truly retired. She realized her dream of owning a house when she bought and moved to a house on the north hill of Minot. She lived there until her death.


Among her new neighbors she became a very good friend with Faye and Dick. They had many memorable times together, especially during many New Years Eve celebrations when they would play card games late into the night and early morning.

Mom liked the card game SkipBo and played with anyone who would play with her: her sons, her mother, Faye and Dick, and her good friend Wanda H.

Mom enjoyed genealogy and researching her family tree and found some branches of her family that went back many hundreds of years in England. She was a member of the Souris River Genealogy Society for many years and served in many of their offices including as President of the Society for several years.

With her good friend Mayre, who was also greatly interested in genealogy, they enjoyed attending garage sales for many years in the 1970s until Mayre and her husband moved to Bismarck in the early 1980s. They have remained very good friends to this day.

Starting in the 1960s, and over the years, mom grew closer to her mother and family in Washington State and looked forward to the many visits from her mother and stepfather or going there to visit them.

Mom is survived by me and my brother, and by four brothers who live in Washington State: Curt, Gary, Larry, and Rick.

Mom was preceded in death by her parents and stepfather, and her older brother Harold Lloyd.


Mom was nice. She was sweet and gentle and seldom got mad. People remember her smile and her youthful voice. She is missed by all who knew her.