Wendell Kelm

Anyone can love the mountains, but it takes a soul to love the prairie – Willa Cather

Kaye Wendell Kelm was born on February 12, 1937, to Henry and Agnes (Kain) Kelm at the local midwife’s home in Neche, North Dakota. In true North Dakota fashion a blizzard delayed his eagerly anticipated arrival home to big sister Georgia June. She cried about the delay, worried she’d never get to meet him. She already loved him so.

Wendell was a child of the prairie and a grandson of the1927 Pembina County Wheat King. When Georgia tucked him in at night and prayed with him that popular children’s bedtime prayer, he tearfully refused the second stanza because he had plans on sticking around to farm with his daddy.

Wendell was always up for a good adventure. He entered a childhood bible challenge by memorizing one hundred bible verses and won a trip to bible camp near Garrison, ND. Loaded into the box of a grain truck, standing room only, he and the other campers visited the North Dakota state capital. It was the start of a lifelong ministry and many wild goose chases following the scenic route.

He built his quick mind and probably his humor with his siblings and cousins at the Langton Morris one room schoolhouse in Pembina County. His family boarded his teacher, Doris Olive Severinson, with whom he remained lifelong friends. He continued his education at District 55 in Neche, ND.

He loved mechanics, a good engine, and a beautiful automobile, especially his 1950 Black Cherry Studebaker Champion. And he made sure his girls learned to drive stick shift in an original Willys Jeep. He was especially fond of his Oliver Cletrac. It was the tractor with which he began independently tending fields at twelve years old. His Cletrac was lovingly restored by and remains on loan to the Pembina County Historical Museum along with his Jeep. Go take a look sometime. Leave a donation. Have a cup of coffee.

His childhood prayers became clearer when his dad, Henry Kelm, suffered a debilitating heart attack and the farm management and labor fell to him. While just a junior in high school he transferred to the Northwest School of Agriculture, and boarded in Crookston, MN, hitchhiking between school and his home near Neche to finish the last two years of high school. He overhauled his first tractor while enrolled there; a Nash Finch, Allis Chalmers? Doesn’t really matter, because we know he favored a good old Massey Ferguson or a Versatile. The accelerated school year allowed him to be home in time for spring planting and to stay for harvest before rejoining his classmates for the year. He valued his education and the friends he met there. He belonged to the National Honor Society. He earned and was named Valedictorian of his 1955 graduating class.

He went to UND; enrolled in ROTC; but the prairie called and he returned to farming. We aren’t even sure if he unpacked the car.

One evening in the spring of 1957, he showed up in Neche at the Vollrath residence in blue suede shoes, cream colored dress pants, and a pair of the deepest dimples Lois had ever seen. It may have been a blind date set up by his cousin, Arlys Kain, but Lois could clearly see her future. By July 26th, 1959, their fates were sealed when Reverend Marvin Schumacher officiated their marriage at Christ Lutheran Church, Neche, ND. They’d been inseparable ever since through richer and poorer, sickness and health.

Wendell was smart; he worked hard. He was as strong as an ox and carried a seed bag on each shoulder to fill the drills. He was industrious. In the 60’s, he joined many midwestern farmers working the winters in California, first for GM on an auto line and then for a Texaco gas station in North Hollywood, CA. He was an on-call engineer for the communications tower just northwest of the farm.

He served as secretary for Neche’s Farmer’s Union Oil Company board and as a council member for Christ Lutheran Church in Neche, ND. When the church was looking for a delegate to the board of the Park River Bible Camp he was nominated as the only guy who’d drive sixty miles for a cup of coffee. He enjoyed serving every one of those twelve years.

He served as a manager, an actor, and an audio engineer, for the Gospel Theater productions in Neche, ND helping to produce an annual Christmas Pageant and a Passion of Christ.

Faithfully, every night, at the edge of the driveway, he faced east over his property and prayed.

Wendell was a classic stoic. He noticed everything. He felt things deeply. He measured his reactions.

He could fix anything; even that Gleaner combine he used for beans. He was certain someday the line would be perfected. He always said he thought that they were waiting to paint the rest of the body for when they finally did.

He loved an organized shop, and he had something akin to a parts supply in the old granary. His farming neighbors knew that if they broke down in the field, Wendell would have spare belts, bearings, discs, or plow shovels. He had them stacked up like cordwood. They quickly grabbed a part and were back in the field with minimal delay. The granary ran on the honor system. One could always settle up later over coffee at the Cenex. He had a well outfitted shop with the tools needed to pick an engine or lay down a transmission to overhaul in the off season. He had old equipment, but he kept it running so well.

He taught several young men about farming and driving a tractor, a truck, and a trailer, but he relied on his faithful friend, Loren Weiss. We know Wendell couldn’t have run the farm without you.

He was fast! He beat the local, tennis-shoed, high school, track star in a friendly 50-yard dash to a finish line hastily marked in the gravel drive. He wore nothing fancier than his trusty work boots fresh out of the field and he had his daughters and witnesses to prove it. His girls never beat him in a race from the shop to the house.

He was fair and loyal; he was tender-hearted, and so, so, very, patient. He never rushed Lois from the garden center or the mall. He never rushed his grandkids from the souvenir shop. He hardly flinched when he road shotgun with his youngest daughter driving, pulling his 26-foot travel trailer across the tri-state. He noticed everything but said very little about it. He recognized the challenges in the world, but he was not diminished, nor was he disheartened by them. And he stood ready to encourage you.

He babysat his nieces. He loved to wrestle his brother-in-law Ab. He whistled while he worked. He could read so fast. A book in an evening after dinner wasn’t even a challenge. He shelled peanuts at the TSC store and finished sodas for his girls when we were too little to do so ourselves. He wasn’t above lobbying for his grandkids or his grandnephew for getting just one more slice of something nice in life. Carter’s parents won’t let him have a piece of carrot cake before his hockey game? Well, that’s what a to-go box and a promise on your honor between you and your great uncle is for! Wendell was a problem solver. He showed up for family. He showed up for his friends.

He was interested in learning anything, history, science, literature, art. He liked music from Johnny Cash to Andrea Bocelli. His favorite hymns were Rock of Ages, and The Old Rugged Cross. He and Nikolai loved a good prime rib. His go-to sage advice was to take no wooden nickels. His chosen bible verse was Isaiah 40:31. Psalm 121:5-8 was one of many highlighted in his bible.

He was eagle eyed and could spot where the rain would pool or run across a fatally flat piece of a prairie section. He KNEW the home wouldn’t flood in ’97 despite a forced evacuation by the North Dakota National Guard. The yard was situated on the slightest ridge none of the rest of us could see. And yet, he never did spot his daughter pulling wheelies in his cab-less Allis Chalmers.

He always had a handkerchief, a band-aid, a stack of note cards, maybe a toothpick and certainly a pen in his front, shirt pocket. He had thousands of notes and always a tin of cookies and a cup of coffee to offer. He didn’t need the notes. His mind was sharp.

He was thrifty, he always had a coupon. He was safety-minded and instilled it in others. We knew to check on dad’s combine before leaving the field. If it was moving, all was well. Carry on. If it was stopped, he probably needed you. You’d better check. He never dropped anyone off at home without making sure they were safe in the house before driving away. He waved goodbye until you could no longer see him in your review mirror and then he prayed for your safe travels.

After more than forty years of farming Lake Agassiz clay, and five years of seemingly biblical sized floods from the Red River and its Pembina tributary, he and Lois made the unfathomable decision to leave their home for a second chapter. It was devastating. It didn’t stop him.

In the fall of 1998, near the cusp of sixty-two, Wendell began seminary. He graduated from the Lutheran Brethren Seminary, in Fergus Falls, MN, on May 26, 2002, completed 94 credits and received a Seminary Diploma equivalent to a Bachelor in Theology.

He was a lay pastor, a Stephen’s Minister, and a Gideon, before he went on to pastor three churches in Cambell, Tinah, and Doran, MN, performing the sacraments of holy baptism, communion, and matrimony. He taught confirmation, performed visitation, and when his parishioners or his family were called, he helped carry them home. He loved his vocations and those to whom he was called to serve.

Sixty-six years of marriage, three daughters, forty years of farming in the Red River Valley, and an astonishing late-in-life career change; Wendell never stopped working for himself, his family, his friends, his community, and people he never even got to meet. He preached his last service on December 24th, 2025. He managed Foss’s Westside Heights Apartments every day until his last.

Wendell had soul and it ran deep. He loved our little spot of the northern prairies, but he loved his family and his prairie companions more. He came to love the lakes and rivers and the people of west central Minnesota, too. Rest assured he loved and prayed for you.

Wendell passed away peacefully at his home with Lois not far from his side on Sunday, January 25th, 2026. Wendell was loved before he arrived and he will be loved long after he passed.

Wendell is survived by his devoted wife, Lois; daughters, Timbra Kelm, Fargo, ND; Tamara (David) Mirsch, Mission Viejo, CA; and Tanya K. Kelm, Fergus Falls, MN; his grandchildren Drake Alexander (Emily) Mirsch; Hadassah Hylden and Abraham Hyden; two great granddaughters, Leighton and Margot Mirsch; his sister Cheryl Haney, and his Goddaughter Rachel (Denault) Gothberg.

Wendell was preceded in death by his mother and father, Henry and Agnes Kelm; his sister and brother-in-law, Georgia and Ab Steinke, his brother Dean Kelm, his nieces Blythe McGovern, and Kristen Ryan; Godson Lanny Schweitzer, and Dalyn Vollrath.

Wendell loved a good thought-provoking quote. When he passed, his bedside table held a note upon which he had written, “Love seeks one thing only; the good of the one loved.” – P. Thomas Merton

As his family, we agree and have one of our own: “[it’s] probably the biggest loss. You lose the person that knows everything but loves you anyway.” -Nicole Kidman

Rest easy, Dad. Find us a good spot for coffee and save us all a seat.

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