Jean Elizabeth Kelso

Jean’s memorial mass will be livestreamed and viewable below on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 11:00 AM.

Jean Elizabeth Kelso was born at St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, ND, on February 3, 1962, and she departed from this world on January 19, 2026, after long struggles with countless health problems. Jean was the youngest of the eight children of LeRoy and Marian Sorenson. She attended Bismarck public schools and played the violin in the Saxvik Elementary, Simle Junior High, and Bismarck High School orchestras. After high school, she attended Mary College, now the University of Mary, Bismarck, ND, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing.

Jean worked as a registered nurse in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. While working there, she met Rich Kelso, a Vietnam veteran, through a mutual friend. Jean and Rich married in Minneapolis, MN. They later moved to Phoenix, AZ, and bought a business. After a short tenure in the business world, they moved to Redland, California, where Rich worked as a microbiologist. Rich died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2008 and Jean moved to Moorhead, MN, where she would be closer to family.

Jean volunteered as the camp nurse at Camp Jabberwocky, a camp for individuals with cerebral palsy, on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. While she lived in Moorhead, MN, Jean was a member of the Nativity Church of Fargo, ND and had made friends in the church community there.

Jean was preceded in death by her husband, Rich Kelso, her parents, LeRoy Sorenson and Marian Sorenson, her stepmother, Delores Stoltz Sorenson, her sister, Cathleen Martin, and two brothers, Eric Sorenson and Kyle Sorenson. She is survived by her brothers and their spouses, Ken and Donna, Patric and Judy, Steven and Melinda, her sister and her spouse, Ann Pate and Dr. John Pate, and her brother-in-law, Dave Martin, and by many nieces and nephews.

There will be visitation at Boulger Funeral Home, 123 10th St. S., Fargo, ND on February 6, 2026, at 6:00 p.m., followed by a prayer service at 7:00 pm. A funeral mass will be held on February 7, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Nativity Church of Fargo, 1825 11th St. S., Fargo, ND. Interment will be at the North Dakota Veteran’s Cemetery, Mandan, ND, at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Nativity Church of Fargo.