Obituary for Arvid B. Wedul Arvid Bruce Wedul passed away peacefully on June 20, 2018, in the Mayo Clinic Care Center in Lake City, MN. He was born on March 17, 1937, in Hazel, MN, the 4th of 5 boys; he was preceded in death by his parents Arnt and Berit Wedul. He is survived by his wife of 46 years Exel (Ekkie) Weinman Wedul, Billings, MT (married July 15, 1972); his 3 children Jeff (Hope) Wedul of Bismarck, ND; Danny Wedul of Helena, MT; and Lynne Wedul of Billings, MT; and 3 grandchildren Hudson, Walker, and Jack Wedul of Bismarck.
His 4 brothers: Otto (Audrey) of Sun City West, AZ; Maynard (Rosie) of Lake City, MN; Kenneth (Kathleen) of Seal Beach, CA; and Glenn of Thief River Falls, MN. Arvid’s family moved from Hazel to Thief River Falls when Arvid was in the third grade. He graduated from Lincoln High School in Thief River Falls, where he played football, basketball, track and golf.
After high school he studied one semester at Moorhead State University in Moorhead, MN, until he transferred to North Dakota Agricultural College (later North Dakota State University) in Fargo, ND, where he earned a BS in civil engineering. He drove semi’s the next 2 years for his brother Maynard and the Wedul Truck Line. He then worked as a civil engineer in San Bernardino, CA, for 6 months, sharing an apartment with his brother Ken.
After earning a degree in education at Bemidji State University, he taught school for 2 years in Clarissa, MN, where he made life-long friends. He was the entire math and science department, as well as a coach and driver’s ed teacher. One fun story is the time he took the driver’s ed students to Alexandria to experience driving in the “big city”.
He spotted a 1964 Pontiac Bonneville in the window, went in, contacted his banker in Clarissa, and bought the car. He had one of his students drive it back to Clarissa! Looking for a bigger city, he taught for the next 2 years at St. Paul Park Middle School, where he also coached football and basketball.
Arvid traveled around Europe, including Norway for visits with relatives. Another trip took him to New Zealand and Australia. He served on the ski patrol at Steamboat Springs, CO; he and Ekkie skied many weekends while living in Denver.
Wanting to earn more money, he earned a Master’s Degree in Math and Physics at the University of Wyoming through a National Science Foundation grant, hoping to teach at the college level; but the pay wasn’t any better than the public schools. That’s when he hired on with IBM as a Systems Engineer; he worked for IBM for 30 years. For the year 1975, Arvid was chosen one of 4 “Directors” of the IBM symposium, out of about 2500 SE’s.
Before his illness, Arvid celebrated 30 years of sobriety with AA. He attended meetings regularly to hear stories of experience, strength and hope, and to share his own. He helped many people stay sober with his inspiration.
Arvid walked into the ER on January 4, 2015, and almost immediately passed out; he was intubated right away and was on a ventilator all the rest of his life. After he was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in March, a life flight flew him and Ekkie to Lake City, MN, where he lived in the Mayo Clinic Lake City Care Center until he passed away. Ekkie was fortunate to be able to live with Arvid’s brother Maynard and his wife Rosie in Lake City, and to travel back home to Billings as often as she could.
The family thanks all of the kind, caring and competent people at the Lake City Care Center who cared for Arvid during his 3 years there. God bless you all. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Arvid B. Wedul please visit our Sympathy Store.
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