Kyle Duane Shelquist

Kyle Duane Shelquist, 63, of Bemidji, passed away on Saturday, September 29, 2018, after a long, courageous struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 1:00 p.m., Friday, October 5, 2018 at the Headwaters School of Music and Arts with Terry Anderson officiating. Arrangements were entrusted to the Olson-Schwartz Funeral Home, Bemidji.

Kyle was born on April 22, 1955, in Hibbing, Minnesota, as the third child of Duane and Jeanette (Brewer) Shelquist.  The family settled in Bemidji, where he attended Nary School, Carr Lake School, and Bemidji Middle and High Schools, graduating in 1973.  He learned construction working for his dad’s company while in school.  He comes from a long line of builders. After graduating from high school, Kyle entered the US Navy, working as a Sea Bee. Upon discharge he studied architecture at the University of New Mexico. On January 9, 1982, he married Susan Nowlan Shelquist in Clearwater, Florida.  They lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Arlington, Texas (son Ryan Kyle Shelquist born in Dallas in 1985), Rock Hill, South Carolina, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Coral Springs, Florida (son Ian Scott Shelquist born in 1990).  Kyle worked as a Construction Manager. In 1992, the family moved back to Bemidji, Minnesota.  He worked for Red Lake Builders for a time, managing the facility construction department.  He then worked for C.A.M., Inc., mostly throughout northern Minnesota.  In Bemidji, he managed the addition to St. Philips Church, construction of the Beltrami County Administration Building, and the remodel and construction of the historic courthouse. Kyle loved fishing and hunting.  He loved the outdoors, and became an avid walker in later years. Kyle was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at the Mayo Clinic in February 2011.  He has taken part in their research studies and has agreed to donate his brain for further study after passing.  He accepted and lived through his diagnosis with amazing courage and grace.  For the past three years he has been lovingly cared for by the staff at Colleen’s Caring Hands in Bemidji, for which for family will be eternally grateful.  Kyle remained a loving husband, father, son and brother throughout this difficult time.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Jeanette, and his brother, Kelly. 

He is survived by his father, Duane; wife Susan and sons Ian and Ryan, sisters Karen Gurney (Stephen) of Bemidji and Vicky Christiansen of Apache Junction, Arizona; brother James Shelquist (Martha Einerson) of South Range, Wisconsin. 

In lieu of flowers the family prefers memorials to Colleen’s Caring Hands locally, or the Alzheimer’s Association or Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Online guestbook at www.OlsonSchwartzFuneralHome.com

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