Knute Thorsgard Obituary, Death – Knute Thorsgard of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota sadly passed away. Ernest and Ina (Sundquist) Thorsgard welcomed Knute into the world on July 8, 1958, in Northwood, North Dakota. When he was a year old, his family relocated to Thief River Falls, Minnesota, because his father had family practice patients there.
Knute developed a love of the outdoors and the water at a young age thanks to his upbringing in a house on the banks of the Thief River. It was almost ideal, remarked Knute, thanking the hamlet of Thief River for providing him with such a great upbringing. When Knute was ten years old, his father traveled the world with his family for a year while volunteering in a Papua New Guinea hospital to aid tuberculosis patients.
Knute experienced a number of effects from this that would later matter in his life. Knute loved to share anecdotes about his motivational coach Kopari and his teammates who worked so hard in the pool when he was a varsity swimmer for TRF in high school. When he was younger, he had numerous experiences with his best buddies, who are still his real friends today.
The horses that his family raised, bred, and trained to pull sleighs and carriages across the frozen river in front of their house were highly beloved by the family. When he was 12 years old, Knute made the decision to become a veterinarian, and he has been working toward that goal ever since. In order to prepare for veterinary school, he attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota after graduating from high school in 1977. He majored in biology and minored in chemistry.
He and his buddies accomplished a childhood fantasy by paddling their canoe to Hudson Bay from the banks of the river behind their house during a college summer break in 1981. To get there, they canoed through Canada for two months, following the river. Knute was accepted in 1983 and quickly became a standout at the University of Minnesota Veterinary School. He gained knowledge from eminent lecturers and a close-knit community of veterinary medical students there.
Knute’s life during this period was both tough and successful. His desire of becoming a veterinarian was eventually realized in 1987 when he accepted his first associate veterinarian position at a sizable animal hospital in Perham, Minnesota. He spent six years there, working for two outstanding veterinarians, Drs. Rose and Clausen. He asked for a three-month leave of absence in 1991, and he and his old pal Tony Brosseau went back to the river to dip their paddles.
They were embarking on an additional once-in-a-lifetime excursion to the Artic Ocean this time, though. He relocated to Bemidji when he started working as a mixed animal veterinarian at the Bemidji Vet Hospital in 1992. The coldest and snowiest winter of 1995 was when he fell in love with Gerri. On September 1st, 1996, they were wed and started a new adventure.
On July 1, 1997, Knute and Gerri welcomed clients into the Bemidji Animal Care Clinic. They welcomed Haakan and Brekt less than a month after the birth of their first son, Tragg. Knute gave up everything to start a veterinary clinic and be the best father he could be to his sons. Knute was able to apply his creativity and problem-solving abilities while running a veterinary practice to create orthopedic hardware for canine anterior cruciate ligament rupture.
Because pets are family too, Knute was passionate about veterinary medicine and he adored all animals. He understood the challenges that successful medical operations and orthopedic surgery entail. Knute was a prosperous businessman who gave his staff meaningful work, gave back to the Bemidji community, and gave his patients and clients the best veterinary care in northern Minnesota.
