Funeral services were held for Elaine Selma Jorud, age 87, of Henning, on Monday, December 15, 2025, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Henning.  Elaine was laid to rest at Grace Lutheran Cemetery, Henning.

Elaine Selma (Bjerketvedt) Jorud was born on March 5, 1938, to the late (George) Stillman and Evelyn (Beck) Bjerketvedt at their home in Leaf Mountain Township, Clitherall. She was baptized and confirmed at the Leaf Mountain Lutheran Church, rural Clitherall. Elaine graduated from the Battle Lake High School in 1956. Following graduation, she moved to the Twin Cities and got her nursing degree from Glenwood Hills, Minneapolis, Minn. While in nursing school, Elaine got a call from Charles Sr. that he was coming home from the army base he was stationed at in Columbus, Ga. and told her they were getting married the next weekend. So, on May 9, 1959, Elaine and Charles Sr. were united in marriage at the First Lutheran Church in Battle Lake. Charles and Elaine traveled their first year of marriage due to Charles being in the service but soon settled in Henning, where they made their home and continued to live there their entire lives. From this marriage were four children, Charles Jr., Michael, Kim and James.

Elaine held many positions during her nursing career. She worked at the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato, St. Paul, Medical Center Hospital in Columbus, Ga. (where Charles was stationed), the Battle Lake Nursing Home, joined the Henning Nursing Home the day it opened and worked there for 17 years. Eventually in 1978 she started her drive to Fergus Falls to work at the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center (formerly the State Hospital). She continued this until her retirement in 2002. Throughout her life she helped all her neighbors whenever they needed any type of assistance be it medical or just helping someone who needed to chat or get a lift somewhere. While living on Holden Avenue, where the kids grew up, it was an almost everyday occurrence she was off helping someone and maybe taking one of us with to assist. Elaine and Charles Sr. were the strength and support to their four children. The four children were in a gospel band when they were teenagers and went out to various churches to spread the gospel through song. Mom and Dad were very proud of what we were doing and enjoyed it all.

Elaine played organ at Grace Lutheran Church for many years stating always that the pastor asked her to play, she told him she didn’t know how, but he asked her to do it, and she did, and played for many years. She would occasionally just sit down at her piano at home and belt out a few tunes even when her memory was fading. Her piano was one of her favorite things along with her hanging baskets she would carry in and out daily when she lived on Poulson Avenue, before moving to Our Home Your Home in Henning in November 2023 for the last few years of her beautiful life.

Elaine always enjoyed the time spent with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. They were all so very special and each had their picture on her wall in her living room. Eventually she saw them start to marry and have children of their own, what a blessing. She would smile every time she spoke of them. Her siblings, her brother Orly Bjerketvedt, she would wait for him to stop when he drove bus each day and her sister Sharon Abrahamson every phone call was so precious to her. She talked of all her uncles, aunts, cousins, old co-workers, everyone had a very special spot in her heart.

On December 7 Elaine entered Heaven. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Jorud Sr. and parents, Stillman and Evelyn Bjerketvedt.

Elaine will be forever missed by her children: Charles (Amy) Jorud, Jr., Plymouth, Mass.; Michael (Cindy) Jorud, Barnesville, Minn.; Kim (Curtis) Haugen, Henning; James (Lynn) Jorud, Sartell, Minn.; grandchildren Tristan (Gina) Jorud; Matthew (Alecia) Jorud; Tanner (Trisha) Jorud; Faith (Sam) Iverson; Cecelia (Sean Seifert) Jorud; Brady (Laura) Jorud; Courtney (Kevin) Fitzgerald; Jacob (Dillon Meyer) Haugen; Grace Jorud; Elena Jorud; Jason Haugen and seven great-grandchildren; sister: Sherry Abrahamson; brother: Orly Bjerketvedt, and many other relatives and a host of friends.

Please visit www.karvonenfuneralhome.com to send Elaine’s family a message of comfort and support.

Arrangements provided by Belmont Karvonen Funeral & Cremation Service of Henning.