Lois Helen Balerud • 1921 - 2010

Lois Helen Balerud, 89, who lived in Minot throughout her adult life, died Monday, July 12, 2010, at Trinity Homes where she had resided for the last 14 years.
     
She was born May 27, 1921, in Richardton, a daughter of Rev. Fred Kordewich and Bertha (Beck) Kordewich. She was raised in New Leipzig, Drake, and other communities where her father served as a minister. She was 14 years old when her mother died. Her father later married Emma Keiper.
     
Following her graduation from Drake High School in 1939, she enrolled in Trinity School of Nursing at Minot, graduating from there in 1942. Her nursing career spanned nearly 40 years, beginning in Rochester, MN. She returned to Minot and went to work at Trinity Hospital as nursing supervisor on the surgical floor. It was during this period that she met her future husband, Leslie A. Balerud, who came into the hospital with a broken arm. Nurse and patient took to one another, began dating, and were married Nov. 24, 1944, at First Lutheran Church in Temple, TX, where Sgt. Balerud was stationed with the Army during World War II. Following his discharge in 1945, they returned to Minot where they continued to make their home.
     
Lois resumed her nursing career at Trinity Hospital, working in the department of obstetrics and gynecology as a teacher of prenatal classes to future parents. She later worked for Dr. Carl London at the Northwest Clinic and also worked as a private duty nurse.
     
She and her husband both retired in the late 1970s. From 1978 to 1988, they spent the winter months in Mesa, AZ. They came to realize they were missing too much of the lives of their two granddaughters, so they returned to living year-round in Minot. Les died Oct. 4, 1996. She moved to Trinity Homes that same year.
     
She was active in the Parent Teacher Association while her children were in school. She was a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Minot from the time it was built, serving as a church council member and Sunday school teacher. She was a member of the church women’s circle.
     
Her daughter Jody, who shared the same birthday, said her mother was a wonderfully good mother. “We were a pretty average family,” Jody said, “with both parents working. Yet she had the time after a busy working day to come home and do such things as bake cookies for us or for an upcoming PTA meeting.” And she was a great cook, her daughter noted. Often, she and Les cooked together for other couples invited for dinner in their home. She maintained a garden, and was a member of a sewing club whose members never quite got around to sewing. They had much catching up to do on each others’ lives during their monthly gatherings that, apparently, had nothing to do with sewing
     
As a teacher of prenatal classes, she followed her student-parents into the delivery room, Jody said. She and Les expected their own children would do well in school, would go to college, and would make something of their lives. Their two grandchildren were her pride and joy. They took great pride in watching their granddaughters Terri and Traci excel in school and were highly supportive of their participation in sporting events and other school activities.
     
Surviving: daughter JoAnn “Jody”(Robert) Petry, Minot; grandchildren, Terri (Jim) Duchsherer, Minot, and Traci Petry and her special friend, Durant Lund, both of Crosby; sister, Gert (Wil) Brosz, Northfield, MN; brother-in-law, Wallace “Butch” Gjesvold, Glendive, MT, and a number of nieces and nephews.
     
Lois was preceded in death by her husband, Les, her son, Steven R. Balerud, her parents, and sisters, Ruth (Dana) Vail, Esther Gjesvold and Doris (Myron) Way.

Funeral: Saturday, July 17, 2010, at 1 p.m. at Trinity Homes Chapel, Minot.

Interment: Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot.

Visitation: Today from 4 to 7 p.m. at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Christ Lutheran Church, to Trinity Homes where Jody said her mother received excellent care during the 14 years she lived there, or to an organization of the donor’s choice.

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