Bernice Hinds

Bernice Ramona Clobes Hinds August 20, 1936, to September 9, 2021, age 85 We appreciate how a person’s life experiences shape who they are and who they choose to become. This is our understanding of how our mother, Bernice Hinds, adapted to joys and challenges and lived her life to its fullest. Bernice was born during one of MN’s hottest Augusts ever recorded. Her parents were Armin and Mabel Clobes, and our mom was the youngest of five children. She was baptized a month later, in her grandmother’s parlor, next to her father’s open casket. We kids always knew Mom admired her mother – Grandma raised 5 children on the farm, using her German heritage to guide her – and Mom raised her children similarly. (Well, blended with Dad’s Norwegian, English, tree farm, and forestry background, and ability to tell a good joke well. J ) Mom immersed herself in her life and the lives of her family. One of her favorite memories was playing dollies with her sister Beverly. Later, through their student nursing programs, Beverly introduced Bernice to her ambulance driver friend, Lee W. Hinds. Mom and Dad were married in 1959, lived in Oakes and Bismarck, ND, and in 2001 retired to “the lake” in the Badoura Township in northern MN. Mom loved her Lord: Beautiful Savior was her favorite hymn; she was a long-term member of LWML; she sang in the church choir as did her children; and on the last evening of her life, told Jonathan she was ready to walk through the door to heaven. She loved her nursing profession. Mom graduated from Hamline University in 1959 with a nursing degree, worked as a Registered Nurse at times throughout her life, raised five kids, and finally retired from nursing at the age of 82. She was proud to have brought the parish nurse program to her MN home church which included spearheading a regularly scheduled blood drive, distributing Meals on Wheels (which she did with Dad for years), visiting with home-bound parishioners and delivering prayer shawls, as well as the installation of an AED at the church. She was buried with her “Miss Clobes” starched nursing cap and her treasured prayer shawls. She was accomplished in many homemaking tasks and taught her children to be as well. She baked bread and delicious fruit pies, sewed dresses and pajamas and dolly clothes, and preserved jams and fruit sauces. And she could camp – pitch a tent, start a fire, roast s’mores – which is how the family vacationed cross-country each summer. Mom and Dad also raised a Scouting family. Mom was our girls’ Brownie leader; her children attained the highest rankings in Girl or Boy Scouts, First Class and Eagle Scout respectively. Mom was buried on September 11, 2021, in between our dad and our youngest brother Gregory. Bernice will be lovingly remembered by daughters Janice, Denver, CO; Kathryn, Fargo, ND, (Don Stallman), grandchildren Caitlin (Gareth Nelson), great-grandchildren Marius and Vienna, Christopher, Jamison, and Jillian; Valerie, Stillwater, MN, (Patrick Gleason), William and Charles; and son Jonathan, Lino Lakes, MN, (Jennifer), Nicholas and Lauren. She is survived by her cherished sister Beverly (Wayne) Bakke, sister-in-law Marion (Ray) Clobes, many nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Lloyd Clobes and Ray Clobes, sister Dorothy Hauge, son Gregory, and husband Lee W. Hinds. The family suggests memorials be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (https://www.lls.org/), St Johns Lutheran Church, Park Rapids, MN (https://stjohnspr.360unite.com/home), or a charity of your choice.