Dr. Warren Smerud

Warren Douglas Smerud, 89, of Moorhead, MN, died peacefully in his sleep on January 20, 2018 at Eventide on Eighth in Moorhead.

Warren was born December 5, 1928, in Fargo, ND, the son of Melvin and Ella Smerud. He was raised in Milnor, ND, graduating high school in 1946. His parents owned and operated the Smerud General Store of Milnor, where Warren worked his first job. Warren then attended Concordia College, Moorhead, graduating in 1951 with a bachelor's degree in history with minors in philosophy and education.

By college graduation day, the Korean War was underway and Warren enlisted in the US Air Force, serving three years at the Lackland Base of San Antonio, TX, and one year at the Harmon Base of Newfoundland, Canada. He served as Staff Sergeant for the 6561st Research and Development Group. The fall of 1955 found Warren in Seattle, WA, enrolled at the University of WA with focus in Philosophy, the subject of his greatest favor in undergraduate school.

An attraction was soon established between Warren and Audrey Jean Miller; a wild yet sophisticated pianist and woman of the Cascade Mountains. They met at the Blue Moon of Seattle, the local hangout of poets, beatniks, and philosophers, and married on January 9, 1958, in Seattle. Upon graduating in the spring of 1961 with a PhD in philosophy and in need of work, Warren spent five years with the Seattle Building Department as a field officer with the city's Federal Urban Renewal Program.

In December of 1966, Warren and family moved to Moorhead, where he served 29 years as a professor of philosophy at Concordia College. He specialized in the philosophers Kant, James, Pierce, and Aristotle, as well as favored subjects of logic, religion, science and especially ethics. Warren also taught several years of summer school for Minnesota State University, Moorhead. His dissertation was published both in this country and the Netherlands as a featured work in linguistics and the philosophy of language.

Warren was a member of the First Congregational Church of Moorhead, the Boy Scouts of America, American Legion, and the Society for Scientific Exploration. Led by the fervent direction of Audrey, together they were dedicated active volunteers for Boy Scouts and Camp Wilderness. With a keen interest in paranormal science, Warren was intrigued by human belief systems that surround many phenomena. Warren was an accomplished Homeopath, scientific researcher, and above all else he held a lifelong passion for the printed page. He will be remembered in his chair with his books by his side, and if you were lucky to catch him in a talkative mood, for his amazing wit and dry sense of humor.

Warren is survived by two sons Peter (Sue) Smerud of Silver Bay, MN, and Carl Smerud of Moorhead; granddaughters Sonja Smerud of Duluth, MN, and Kari Smerud of Silver Bay; and a sister, Kathleen Lou "Kitty" (Smerud) Lunde of Rapid City, SD. Warren was preceded in death by wife Audrey (Miller) Smerud, and brother-in-law, Rolf Lunde.

Memorials may be directed to the Concordia College Philosophy Department.

A Memorial Service for will be 11:00 AM, Saturday, March 3, 2018 in Concordia College Centrum, Moorhead, MN. Interment will be in the Prairie Home Cemetery, Moorhead.

(Korsmo Funeral Service, Moorhead, MN)