Selmer J. Quam Family

Selmer J. Quam, son of Theodore and Ingeborg Quam of Forde Township, Nelson County, attended North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota.  Della Quam, daughter of John and Bertha Johnson of Fargo, North Dakota graduated from Moorhead State College and attended Dakota Conservatory of Music in Fargo.

We were married March 30, 1932 after which we lived in Enderlin for about a year, where Mr. Quam was a mortician.

We moved to Cooperstown in 1934 and established a funeral home and ambulance service in the Martin Garlid residence.  Mr. Quam served as coroner of Griggs County for 39 years.  In 1950 he built a funeral home, adjacent to the former building.  In 1954 we became a partner in the Boe funeral home in Finley.  In 1959, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Plaisted became a partner at Finley and in Cooperstown in 1964.  In 1974 we retired from the funeral business.

We have two children. 

1.     Delores, who is married to Larry Vigesaa, lives in Billings, Montana.  She teaches music in the public schools and Larry has established an architectural firm.  They have three boys, Erik, Bryan and Benjamin. 

2.     Mylo, our son, is in New York City.  He attended Concordia College for one year and then attended several colleges in the New York area.  He was in theatrical work but is now engaged in the art of painting.

Mr. Quam is also a veteran of World War II, served as a laboratory technician in the medical corps.

Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Quam

Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 75