Shirley Kidd

Shirley Kidd, 90 of New London, died Monday, November 30, 2020 at Lutheran Sunset Home in Grafton, ND. Memorial services will be 2:00 p.m. Monday, May 24, 2021 at Hope Presbyterian Church in Spicer.  Visitation will be for one hour prior to the service.  Interment will be at Oak Hill Cemetery in New London. Arrangements are with the Johnson Funeral Home in New London.           

Shirley was born August 12, 1930, in the farmhouse of her parents Roy and Marjorie (Mathisen) Erickson near Windom, Minnesota.  She graduated from Windom High School in 1947 and attended Worthington Community College before earning her 3-year Registered Nursing degree in 1951 at the Swedish Hospital School of Nursing in Minneapolis.  On Jan 13, 1951, Shirley married William “Bill” Kidd in Windom and then joined him in Pensacola, Florida, where he earned his US Navy pilot wings and commission as an officer in 1952. 

For the next 20 years, Shirley accompanied Bill to California (5 times); Texas (twice); Georgia, Florida (twice), Virginia; and his final assignment in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  They returned to Minnesota in 1972 and settled on Norway Lake near New London.  Shirley had placed her nursing career on hold to serve her country as a military spouse and raise her family; however, in 1972 she returned to nursing at the maternity ward of Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar and earned her BSN degree.  When she retired in 2007, she had served as head nurse of the OB ward.  In 1980, Shirley and Bill moved to Riverview Lane just outside of New London.  She and Bill thoroughly enjoyed retirement visiting their children and grandchildren, hosting family reunions on the shoreline of the Little Crow River, taking many cruises, and sometimes traveling south to escape Minnesota’s winters.

While living on Norway Lake and Riverview Lane, Shirley was a very active member of Hope Presbyterian Church, Spicer.   She served as a Deacon, the Clerk of Session, and Parish Nurse and participated in the Stephen Ministries, choir, and Hope Presbyterian Women.  Four years after Bill's death in 2009, Shirley moved to New London's Glen Oaks Apartments where she lived until 2018 when she moved to Grafton.

She is survived by four children:  Mike (Bonnie) of Fairfax Station, Virginia; Dr. Steven (Wendy) of Cloquet; Jim (Shawn) of Clontarf; and Marjorie (Greg) Johnson of Grafton, North Dakota; eight grandchildren; 4 great-granddaughters; her sister-in-law, Leola Hale of Hastings; and many nieces and nephews.  She is preceded in death by her husband; her parents; younger brother, Jim in 1986; and a baby brother who died in infancy.

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