Lois Madigan Obituary
It is always difficult saying goodbye to someone we love and cherish. Family and friends must say goodbye to their beloved Lois Madigan (Crookston, Minnesota), who passed away at the age of 83, on February 22, 2018. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Lois Madigan to show support.
She is survived by: her father And; her grandchild Tim Madigan; and also, Aedan, Mairenn and Mom. She is also survived by husband of 55 years, died in 2011. "As a testament to how our mother and father raised us, willingly and in faith, we were there to see her on her journey," said her son.
Bless her soul." Lois was born on January 9, 1935, in Turtle Lake, N.D., a small town in the western part of the state, to Augustine and Oliver Bergo. Lois' father died when she was three years old.
She was a popular student and star basketball and softball player in high school, and tried to keep her two brothers, Gordon Bergo and Vernon Keel, on the straight and narrow. She was not always successful in that regard. From the time she was a little girl, she dreamed of becoming a nurse, an ambition realized in 1956 when she earned a three-year nursing degree from St. Alexius Nursing School in Bismarck, N.D. Just days after her graduation, on Sept. 5, 1956, she married Lamoure "Myke" Madigan, a handsome Army veteran she met at a North Dakota barn dance.
Friends would later recall how the couple was poetry on the dance floor. As they began their lives in Crookston, Myke worked in the lumber business while Lois took a job as a nurse at St. Francis Hospital. She started with the Crookston public schools in 1971. The couple and their growing family were also beloved fixtures on Alexander Street in Crookston, and frequently hosted neighborhood parties.
Lois and Myke were devoted members of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and longtime volunteers at Care and Share. Lois also worked for several summers as the nurse for migrant children in the Crookston area. Lois retired in 1996. She and Myke moved from Crookston to the Twin Cities a year later to be closer to their children.
With her daughter, Terri, Lois was a devoted caregiver during her husband's struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Lois' own physical health began to falter in recent years, but her mind and spirit never did. In the last several weeks of her life, she had wonderful visits with old friends, and gathered her children and grandchildren around her.
There was much laughter and singing, especially the songs of her favorite, Neil Diamond. Everyone was also reminded of Lois' wicked sweet tooth. "As her oldest child, it has been an incredible blessing to see the love our mom spread over decades, from generation to generation, from her husband to children to grandchildren," Tim Madigan said. "I have had a front row seat to witness the life and love of the most amazing person we know.
