Joel N. Belgum

Joel Norman Belgum
February 17, 1923 – April 28, 2017

Joel was born at home on the family farm near Farwell, Minnesota to Emma Sletten and Torben Belgum, both immigrants from the Valdres Valley of Norway. He was the youngest of four, and graduated from Kensington High School in 1940.

After high school, Joel attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. When his father died suddenly, he went home to farm in partnership with his brother, Herbert. He later completed a year at Luther College, then farmed with Herbert until 1945. He was drafted into the U.S. Army for one year in 1945 as an enlisted man assigned to clerical duties at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.

He was honorably discharged in 1946, and then enrolled at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, where he met his future wife, Bernice Ione Garnaas. Joel earned his B.A. degree in 1949 with a major in history and a minor in philosophy. He also played shortstop for the Cobbers baseball team.

He married Bernice on September 2, 1949. They moved to Kensington where they farmed for three years until 1952, when he and Bernice, and son Doug, age one, moved to Moorhead, Minnesota where he began teaching. He earned a Master’s of Education from North Dakota State University and began a 29-year career as a high school guidance counselor. He also managed the family farmland in North Dakota for many years.

Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead was a high priority in Joel’s life. He served as Sunday school teacher, as a member of the church council, and as a board member of the Trinity Foundation. One of his special interests was the Social Concerns Committee. He was active for years representing the church at the Fargo-Moorhead Emergency Food Pantry. More recently, he and Bernice assisted several Somali families in establishing homes, gaining employment, and encouraging them to receive an education.

Another of Joel’s special joys was gardening, feeding the birds, and planting evergreens both on the family farm in North Dakota, and at the lake cabin.

In 2013, after 61 years in Moorhead, Joel and Bernice moved to St. Paul to be closer to family. They resided at The Wellington 2235 Rockwood Avenue West, St Paul, MN, 55116 where Bernice still lives, and daughter, Jane works as an RN. During Joel’s last two months, he was cared for by the loving staff of the Alton Memory Care Center nearby.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Torben and Emma Sletten Belgum; parents-in-law Tollof and Anna Peterson Garnaas; brother, Herbert; sister, Thelma Matthias; sister, Helen Hedner; and son, Douglas Joel Belgum.

Joel is survived by his loving and faithful wife, Bernice, St. Paul; sister-in-law, Helen Garnaas, St. Paul; daughter-in-law, Colleen Sedgwick Belgum, Edina; daughter Joyce Belgum and husband John Gabbert, Winona; son Pastor Daniel Belgum-Blad and wife Sally Belgum-Blad, Atwater; and daughter Jane Belgum and husband Daniel Steen, Minneapolis.

Joel was the proud grandfather of nine: Heidi Allred and Holly Belgum Doug; Marijka Muras and Rea Hobbs Joyce; Jacob and Erik Belgum Dan; and Natalie, Benjamin, and Matthew Steen Jane; and the great-grandfather of four: Amelia Allred Heidi; Kendrik and Owen Hobbs Rea; and Oliver Muras Marijka.

Suggested memorials include Emergency Food Pantry, Fargo, ND; Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, MN; and Concordia College, Moorhead, MN.

Memorial gathering: Thursday, May 4, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., in Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, MN.

Memorial service: Thursday, May 4, at 2:00 p.m., in Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, MN.

Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery, Moorhead, MN.