Shirley Belgarde

Shirley Belgarde, 79,

Minot and formerly of rur-

al Granville, died on

Tuesday, November 24,

2020, in a Minot hospital.

She was surrounded by

her loving family.

Shirley Ann was born

on October 8, 1941, on the

family farm in Falsen

Township of McHenry

County near Verendrye,

ND, to Oliver and Eva

(Pfeilschiefter) Swensrud.

She was raised on the

family farm, attended rur-

al schools and graduated

from Minot State Univer-

sity with a Bachelor of

Science Degree in Social

Work.

Shirley’s first husband

Richard Kramer died on

May 3, 1972. Richard had

just completed a full Navy

career as an aviation

mechanic before suc-

cumbing to cancer. Dur-

ing their 14 year marriage,

Shirley and Richard lived

in multiple states and had

their first four children.

Her second child Jeffrey

Kramer died as an infant

and is buried in Rhode Is-

land. Just prior to

Richard’s death, the fami-

ly moved back to her

home state of North Dako-

ta with their three young

children. Shirley then

completed her education

in social work and began

a 15 year career as a So-

cial Worker for Trinity

Nursing Home in Minot.

In 1982, Shirley met

Vincent Belgarde and

soon thereafter got mar-

ried in Minot. Shirley and

Vincent had one child to-

gether Kristen Belgarde.

Vincent passed away in

2013.

Following her employ-

ment with Trinity Nursing

Home, Shirley continued

her life of giving by

becoming a foster parent

to numerous children in

need, providing a safe

haven on her hobby farm

in rural Granville. Parent-ing is what defined Shir-

ley, nurturing dozens of

children during her foster

parenting years. Shirley

welcomed two young fost-

er children into her own

family by assuming legal

guardianship of Luke Wal-

lace and by adopting

Brandon Hanson as her

own son in 2007.

Her hobby farm was a

special place with Arabi-

an horses, miniature

horses, peacocks, African

guinea hens, pigs,

hedgehogs as well as

geese, chickens, turkeys,

pheasants, rabbits and

goats. She continued to

reside on the farm

between Norwich and

Granville until she moved

to Minot in 2018.

Shirley was an active

member of Norwich Luth-

eran Church where she

served as a Sunday

School Teacher for more

than twenty-five years

and was especially proud

to have had her own chil-

dren and grandchildren in

class. She especially en-

joyed gardening, antiqu-

ing, flea markets, garage

sales, baking, canning,

sewing, reading, camping,

Christmas music and fish-

ing, even though she was

never very successful

catching fish. Shirley

especially enjoyed travel

with her children, high-

lights being: Mexico, Hol-

land, Denmark, Norway,

Hawaii, Alaska as well as

a Caribbean Cruise and

African Safari.

Shirley’s loving family

includes her children: De-

borah (Richard) Berg of

Andover MN, Jerry Kra-

mer of Fridley MN,

Richard Kramer of Sarato-

ga CA, Kristen Mauldin

and Brandon Belgarde

both of Minot and Luke

Wallace of Chester

Springs PA; grandchil-

dren: Allison Kramer, Em-

ily Kramer, Avayah

Myhre, and Arianna

Mauldin; siblings: Orlan

(Debra) Swensrud of

Minot, Betty Larson of

Minot, Donald (Galen)

Swensrud of Minneapolis

and Roger (Debra) Swens-

rud of Pittsburgh and

several nieces, nephews

and cousins, as well as

her three stepchildren

Michael Nelson, Corey

Nelson and Tabatha Nel-

son, all currently residing

in Minnesota.

Shirley was preceded

in death by her parents,

husband: Richard Kramer,

infant son: Jeffrey Kramer,

sister: Rhonda Geyer and

infant nephew: Erik

Swensrud.

Public Visitation: Sun-

day from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30

p.m. in Thomas Family

Funeral Home – Minot.

Face coverings are re-

quired and social distanc-ing is strongly en-

couraged.

Private Celebration of

the Life of Shirley Bel-

garde: Monday, No-

vember 30, 2020 at 2:00

p.m. in Norwich Lutheran

Church, Norwich. A lives-

tream of the service will

be available by using the

link in the website obitu-

ary.

Interment will be in

Holy Cross Catholic

Cemetery, Velva.

Memorials are pre-

ferred to the Pulmonary

Fibrosis Foundation,

NEXUS-PATH Family

Healing or the Norwich

Lutheran Church.

Memories and con-

dolences may be shared at

www.thomasfamily

funeralhome.com.