Moses Clouse of Minot will celebrate his 100th birthday at open houses Thursday, March 19, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Wintering Creek Assisted Living, 1608-16th St. NW, and Saturday, March 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. in St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 2209-4th Ave. NW.
Moses was born March 19, 1909. in Surrey. He grew up in rural Surrey. After graduating from Surrey High School, he attended the University of North Dakota for one year.
In the 1930s, he was the Pure Oil bulk delivery man and worked at City Service gas station in Minot. In the 1940s, he farmed at Norwich for a short time, operated a general store and was postmaster in Norwich, worked as bookkeeper for a road construction company, in sales for a sign company and was the field representative for Dakota Lutheran High School, Later, he attended the American Lutheran Church's seminary in Minneapolis. He served as lay pastor of a church in Minnewaukan and for Indian missions in Belcourt and Roy Lake, Minn. He was the administrator at a nursing home in Beresford, S.D., before he started filling in at churches that didn't have pastors. One of the churches he filled in at was in Balfour.
He also kept busy doing volunteer work, including serving as the doorman for the Trinity Professional Building across from the hospital, where he guided people to the skywalk.
He married Clara Bolstad from Norwich July 10, 1930, in Minot. Their family includes 140 descendants. They had seven children, Lyle Clouse, Devils Lake; Lila Ostrand, Rainier, Ore.; Phyllis Myhrer, Ramsey, Minn.; Mary Adams, Bloomington, Minn.; Calvin Clouse, Minot; Sandra Barrington, Shreveport, La.; and Susan Manuel, Spokane, Wash.