Patricia Usgaard

Patricia Joan (Grindeland) Usgaard, 86, passed away on September 20th, 2019 at Aase Haugen Home in Decorah, Iowa.   Memorial Services will be held at 2:00 PM Friday, September 27, 2019 at Decorah Lutheran Church. Private Family Inurnment will be in Big Canoe Lutheran Cemetery in rural Decorah.    Visitation will begin at 1:00 PM Friday, one hour before the service, at Decorah Lutheran Church.    Pat grew up in Minneapolis and graduated from Central High School in 1951. During her early years she and her sister Sharon would often visit Decorah, where her father was born, and the family farm near Sattre. She attended University of Minnesota and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954. She then worked at the Braniff Airlines office where she met Bob Bourque and they were married in May 1959. Bob passed away in May 1991. Pat later moved to Grapevine, Texas and she worked for a travel agency where she was able to travel extensively. In 1997, she moved back to Decorah, where she always wanted to live, and bought a home on 5th Avenue. Pat and Bob Usgaard were united in marriage on August 8th, 2004. They enjoyed traveling, remodeling their 5th Avenue home and entertaining. She thoroughly enjoyed being with the expanded family circle, which came along with her marriage to Bob. She and Bob moved to Vennehjem in 2014, living almost next door to her sister Sharon and husband Bob Lillie. She was proud of her Norwegian heritage and often wore her distinctive Voss bunad at Nordic Fest and other events. She was a long-time member of Sons of Norway and the Elks Club. She attended the family church, Big Canoe Lutheran, and was active in their many activities, especially Lutefisk suppers, Strawberry Fest, and church circles. She also affiliated with Decorah Lutheran after her marriage to Bob Usgaard and was active in the circles there. Pat is survived by her sister, Sharon Lillie of Decorah, nieces Shawn Tater of Tulsa OK and Shannon (Chris) Winkle of Decorah, and nephew Richard (Jennifer) Kmieciak of San Francisco CA, brother-in-law Robert Lillie of Decorah, grandnieces’ Madison Barker of Tulsa, OK and Jill Tater of Tulsa, OK and great grandniece Charlee Barker of Tulsa, OK, cousins Janaan McCarty, Paul (Bernice) Arneson, Ralph (Shirley) Arneson and Margaret Arneson, all of the Decorah area. She is also survived by Bob Usgaard’s five children and seven grandchildren: James Usgaard (Becky Knutson) of Urbandale IA, David (Amy) Usgaard and children, Curtis, Daniel and Douglas of Decorah, Thomas (Susan) Usgaard and children Raymond and Joseph of Morton, IL, Robert (Diane Granfors) Usgaard of Anchorage, AK and Susan (Brent) Simi and children, Elisabeth Brandt and great granddaughter Tenley of Dresser, WI, and Sydney Simi of Ham Lake MN; and her sister-in-law Lois (Gene) Albers of Ridgeway, IA. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Robert Bourque, husband Robert Usgaard, cousins Stanley Arneson and Kathryn (Jerome) Kroshus. Memorial gifts may be made to the Aase Haugen Senior Services, Inc., 4 Ohio Street, Decorah and the Winneshiek Memorial (WMC) Hospital Foundation, 901 Montgomery Street, Decorah 52101.