Shirley “Maude” Skaran

Shirley Skaran, age 96, of Ostrander, Minn., died Friday, September 12, 2025, at her home.

Memorial service will be held 10 a.m. Friday, September 19, 2025, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ostrander, Minn., with Rev. Herman Bakker officiating. Burial will be in the Grand Meadow Cemetery. 

Visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, September 18, 2025, also at Trinity Lutheran Church, and will continue for one hour prior to the service on Friday. 

On Friday, September 12, Shirley “Maude” Skaran passed peacefully from the presence of the many who will miss her in this life, to join her beloved husband and others dear to her in the next.

Born on the farm in Bennington Township, Minn., to Edwin and Dora (Kohn) Ruud on May 4, 1929, Shirley grew up around Grand Meadow.  She met her husband Norbert – recently returned from World War II Navy service to help on his father’s farm – while she was running a field errand.  They married on April 27, 1947, at the Grand Meadow Lutheran Church, and in time had three children: Michael (Marjory) Skaran, Candace Lovelace and Richard (Pamela) Skaran.  Seventy-five years of marriage only deepened their love, though those who knew them also might still be able to hear her consternated “Oh, Norbert!”

Shirley was an enthusiastic participant in community life, including serving as a Cub Scout “den mother” and being an active member of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (Ostrander) and the American Legion Auxiliary.  She and Norbert built and managed the Ostrander Nursing Home from 1968 to 1975.  They were also stockholders of the Root River Country Club, where she ran the club house for a time and even learned to golf a little to spend time with him.  Shirley later managed the gas station in Ostrander, and after her years of employment stayed active in such work as delivering Meals  on Wheels and making quilts with the church ladies to send “over across.”

A devoted homemaker, Shirley was a dedicated gardener (of flowers and vegetables), cook (including Norwegian classics like lefse and krube), baker (of the world’s best buns), canner (especially those pickles), and seamstress (from mending to making nightgowns).  Best was when she got to do these things with grandkids, or when she could use her talents hosting family holiday gatherings (where she always had to be behind the camera, not in front of it). 

Life was about people.  Shirley spent hours on the phone, and would often call just because she wanted to hear that person’s voice.  Her face lit up when a loved one walked in her door, and when the time came to leave she might follow them out and even stand where the car door couldn’t shut, sneaking in a little more conversation.  True to form, even after Norbert had said his final “goodbye,” his wife had to stay a little longer.

Shirley was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her brother Ronald Ruud, and her step-brother Norman Jacobson.  She is survived by her children, her step-sister Beverly Thorson of Wilmar, Minn., eight grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren (and counting).  “Oh, boy!”