Genevieve "Gen" Korsmo

Genevieve “Gen” Korsmo died May 21, 2019, at the Sanford Broadway Medical Center, two blocks from where she grew up.

Genevieve Graber Korsmo was born December 27, 1922, to John Peter and Delilah Graber on a farm near Ulen, Minnesota. Gen grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, and graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1940. She studied pharmacy at North Dakota Agricultural College and worked for the rationing board during World War II.

Gen married the Graber family’s paper boy and returning veteran John E. Korsmo on her 23rd birthday, December 27, 1945. She worked for Standard Oil Company in Fargo while John attended college. Gen and John lived briefly in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where their son John T. Korsmo was born, before moving to Dothan, Alabama, during John’s military service in the Korean War. They returned to Fargo where Gen and John lived the rest of their lives.

Gen worked for many years at Herbst Department Store and Cass County Abstract Company. She and John were active in Fargo Lodge #260 of the B. P. O. of Elks, Gilbert C. Grafton Post #2 of the American Legion, and Pontoppidan Lutheran Church. Before John’s passing in 1997, they spent winters in Scottsdale, Arizona. But Fargo and the Graber family were always “home.”

Gen is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and her siblings, Art Graber, Fred Graber, Irene Fraser, John “Bud” Graber, Hulda McKinnon, and Ed Graber. She is survived by her son, John T. (Michelle) Korsmo, Washington, DC; her grandchildren, John E. “Ted” Korsmo II, Los Angeles, CA, Charles R. (Adrienne) Korsmo, Cleveland Heights, OH, Joseph R. (Naomi Curland) Korsmo, Longmont, CO, and Matilda L. “Mattie”, Mary Alicia “Ally”, and Genevieve S. Korsmo, all of Washington, DC; and her great-grandchildren, Lilah and William Korsmo, Cleveland Heights, OH. Gen is also survived by many beloved Graber and Korsmo nieces and nephews, including Fargo-area nieces and nephews Sue Cosgriff, Cindy and Ken Willmann, and Pete and Monica Graber, and Gen’s great-niece Chelsea (Justin) Wanzek, all of whom took such great care of her in recent years.

In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to the Homeward Animal Shelter in Fargo.