Edna I Belisle

Edna Belisle went Home with her Savior and Lord Jesus Christ on December 13, 2025, her faith now made sight. A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 3, 2026, at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Buckeye, AZ. She will be laid to rest in Lansford, ND, in the spring.

Edna Irene Johnson was born June 6, 1933, to Otto and Olga Johnson on the Stusrud family homestead near Kloten, ND. Edna's formative years on the farm taught her the values of faith in Christ, love for family and a hard day's work. Edna first attended the township country school with her siblings, later graduating from McVille High School in 1950. She worked for a time during high school at the local bank – a job obtained with the help of her dad, she said. When her father died shortly after her graduation, Edna moved with her mother, older brother and youngest sister to Minot, ND, where Edna enrolled at Minot State Teachers College and received her teacher certificate.

While attending MSTC, Edna waitressed part-time at her aunt and uncle's popular Minot restaurant, The Beaver Palace Cafe. While at the cafe, Edna renewed her friendship with a Minot boy she'd known since childhood, James Milkey. Edna and Jim shared common relatives from the McVille, ND, area, so it was no surprise when their years-long friendship blossomed into something deeper. After Jim enlisted in the US Army in January 1951, Edna waited patiently, working at the Beaver Palace, writing letters to Jim and looking forward to his furloughs home. Edna returned to McVille for a short time, using her teaching certificate to teach at the same country school she'd attended as a young girl.

Edna and Jim were married on June 27, 1954, in Zion Lutheran Church at rural McVille, ND – the church in which she'd been raised, baptized and confirmed and of which both her and Jim's grandparents were charter members. Edna and Jim moved to rural Lansford, ND, where Jim began a grain-farming operation on land his father had previously purchased. They became the proud parents of four children – Brenda, Colleen, Michael and Mark – and raised them on the farm. James Milkey passed away unexpectedly in January, 1968.

In 1969, Edna met Robert Belisle of Lansford, ND. Bob was a teacher and athletic coach at Lansford Public School. Edna and Bob began a friendship that quickly flowered into courtship. They were married on July 15, 1970, at Zion Lutheran Church in Mohall, ND. Bob continued to teach and coach in Lansford and Glenburn while Edna finished her elementary education degree at Minot State College in 1973.

Edna and Bob moved to Underwood, ND, in 1972 where Bob taught school and coached. Edna also taught remedial reading and basic skills in the Underwood school system during their six years there. Edna and Bob soon grew the family with two children of their own, Randal and Erin. Though residing the school year in Underwood, they maintained ownership of the Lansford farm, living there during the summer months.

In 1978, Edna and Bob moved permanently back to live on their Lansford farm to begin their farming operation. In 1988, they purchased an additional home in Mohall where they lived during the school year for several years while their two children attended school. During this time, Edna worked at the Mohall Elementary School as a substitute teacher, teacher's aide and special needs assistant.

After 65 blessed years of living on the family farm – raising six children in the process – Edna moved with Bob in 2019 to Buckeye, AZ, where they purchased a home. Edna dearly loved and missed her farm with its array of backyard goldfinches, deer and moose but she adjusted well to the sunny climate of Arizona and quickly made many new friends in her years of residence there. Having three of her children and spouses retired and living close by was a great blessing to Edna, and she especially enjoyed visiting her longtime Lansford friends at the Mesa gatherings.

Edna – "Mom" – was a woman of faith in God, of love and sacrificial service to her family and in the simple pleasures of farm living. Of the humble, original farmhouse she moved into in 1954 (with no running water or indoor bathroom) she wrote, "We couldn't be happier in a mansion or anyplace else." Though the modern ranch house that replaced it in 1966 was greatly appreciated by a growing family, it was Mom's love and care for people that made a house a home.

Edna proved an excellent role model for her family: working in the spring and harvest fields, planting and nurturing vegetable and flower gardens, butchering chickens and attending and supporting all her kids' school events. She was a skilled seamstress, sewing many dresses and various articles of clothing for her family and teaching the girls to do the same. Mom loved to knit/crochet and made sure all of her kids got one of her hand-knitted afghans before they left for college. She was an excellent cook and a baker known for her donuts and bars, buns and all the various Norwegian treats. Edna, along with Bob, volunteered for many years at the Norsk Hostfest in Minot in various serving capacities.

Edna's Norwegian heritage was important to her, as were her Stusrud cousins living in Norway. She and Bob, along with daughter Erin, made a couple of trips there to acquaint themselves with them and the Stusrud family ancestral home. Lasting bonds were made, and Mom was in her element when hosting many of those Norwegian cousins when they reciprocated visits to the Lansford farm.

Mom loved to entertain guests and her house was always alive with laughter, good food, family and friends – whether for special holidays, Card Club, or just a drop-in visit from a neighbor. In her earlier days on the farm, Edna was an active member of the Grano Happy Homemakers and loved those times of getting to know her neighbors. She also loved her Lansford Birthday Club ladies, and always looked forward to those gatherings. She was always grateful for the wonderful neighbors she was blessed to know and love – whether she was living at Lansford, Mohall, Underwood or Buckeye. Mom's fun sense of humor made her easy to like – her giggle and penchant for a witty quip will be missed.

Mom/Grandma/Great-grandma absolutely loved and cherished her babies and had a special relationship with as many as she could. Edna grew up in a musical family, learning to sing in church with her brother and sisters. She took piano lessons for a couple of years, but realized her talent lay more in playing by ear. Mom loved to play and sing. She never ceased to amaze her family with her instant recall of old songs – their melodies AND lyrics. Even into old age, an innocent comment would more often than not jog her memory of a lyric and cause Mom to break out in song!

Mom valued education to the point of returning to college and graduating with her BS in Elementary Education at the age of 40 (she attended her own ceremony in the morning and drove five hours the same day for her daughter's high school graduation later that evening.)

Edna loved the outdoors and quickly learned to love RV'ing and camping with Bob and her Belisle kids at places like Lake Audubon and Lake Sakakawea. Edna loved to go dancing with Bob anywhere and everywhere – from the Moose Club in Minot to Stump Lake to Arizona. They even performed with the Polkateers in North Dakota for several years.

Edna was an active member of Zion Lutheran Church in Mohall and Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansford, where at each she taught Sunday School and participated in the ladies' Circle groups and Church Council. In Underwood, she attended Augustana Lutheran, and, after moving to Arizona, attended Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Buckeye.

By God's grace, Mom came to faith in Christ as her Savior and Lord at a young age. Her testimony was that her salvation didn't rest in her good works or in her baptism or in anything but solely the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. And it is by that undeserved kindness that Edna – Mom – lives today in His presence.

Edna's family would like to thank the staff at Pebble Heights Assisted Living/Memory Care in Goodyear, AZ; RD Hospice of Peoria, AZ; and Living Gracefully PLLC of Phoenix, AZ, for their professional and tender care for Mom over the last six months.

Edna is survived by her husband of more than 55 years, Robert; her children, Brenda (Robert) Demke, Minot, ND, and Buckeye, AZ; Colleen (Rodney) Jacobson, Billings MT; Michael (Cynthia) Milkey, Minot, ND, and Buckeye, AZ; Mark (Sandra) Milkey, Buckeye, AZ; Randal (Katarzyna) Belisle, Garrison, ND; and Erin (Jeremy Smith) Belisle, Portland, OR; along with 8 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

Edna was preceded in death by her parents, Otto and Olga Johnson; husband, James Milkey; sister, Orphie Knudson; sister, Pearl Vig; brother, Harold Johnson; sister, Linda DeGroot.

Donations in memory of Edna can be made to the Lansford Cemetery Association or Alzheimer's Association.