Alice Serkland

The Memorial Service for Mrs. Alice Serkland will be held in the Chapel of Bethany Homes/University, at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, May 2, 2011. A Visitation Hour will precede and follow the service, and her Committal Service will then follow at Riverside Cemetery. Alice Caroline Serkland was born March 26, 1912, in Henning, Minnesota, to John and Anna (Kaltrud) Brenden. She moved with her family to Fergus Falls where she attended grade school, to Minneapolis where she graduated from Roosevelt High School and to Moorhead, where she attended Concordia College. After their marriage she and Chester J. Serkland lived in Denver, CO before moving to Fargo when he began his practice of the law. She was strongly committed to caring for her family, a commitment fostered by her parents’ care for their family and many others after the 1919 tornado in Fergus Falls. She cared for her husband and children through difficult times and set high standards for her homemaking. She found bridge and golf with friends, and the visits of friends, grandchildren and great-grandchildren especially pleasant recreations. An active, longtime member of Olivet Lutheran Church, she served terms as President of its Church Women and Secretary of its Board of Trustees. She also volunteered with several caring groups in Fargo, and served on the Boards of the Fargo Nursing Home (now Rosewood on Broadway), Bethany Homes and the MeritCare Auxillary. Mrs. Serkland almost succeeded at her ambition to become 100-years-old, living at Bethany Homes until just past her 99th birthday. Her parents, five brothers and one sister, her husband of 64 years, one son (Stephen) and one grandson (Mark) preceded her in death. Her sons and daughters-in-law, John and Lola (Flagstaff, AZ) and James and Gloria (Sister Bay, WI), her daughter Jane (State College, PA), eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren live on. Her family very much appreciates the attentiveness of her friends, and the care provided her by Bethany Homes and Olivet Church, and knows she would be pleased for gifts given Bethany and Olivet in her memory.