Obituary of Gregory Wane Bjerke

Gregory Wane Bjerke passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on October 21, 2023, after his battle with cancer. He was 66 years young.

Gregory, known as “Greg” to family and friends, was born on October 28, 1956 in Tucson, AZ. In his childhood, Greg lived in Okinawa, Japan, and the Philippines, spending most of his days running through the sugar cane fields-waiting for his father (Jerry) to fly overhead and wave his aircraft wings to say “hello.” Greg also lived in California, Arizona, and Montana before his family made Minnesota their home.

A 1975 graduate of Rosemount High School, Greg studied law enforcement at Normandale College while working for Sullivan’s Super Value as a bag boy and stocking shelves.

In 1974, Greg was invited to play baseball at Alice Hahn’s home where he met Nita, Alice’s daughter and his future wife. Greg and Nita were married on April 26, 1976 by Helen Kennedy in Eagan, MN.

Greg retired from Sullivan’s Super Value as a meatcutter/meat department manager in 2006. After retiring, Greg did not “retire” as he loved to stay busy. He had a paper route for the Star Tribune, he was a shift lead for Super America, he was a night stocker for Target, he worked at Lakeville Liquors as a cashier and most recently, he worked as maintenance shift lead for Marsden.

Greg loved his yard and loved to be in his yard. He created an oasis in the backyard for he and his wife, to enjoy into retirement. However, there was nothing more important to him than his family. He loved the holiday’s, loved gathering with his family for any reason, spending time with his grandchildren and children.

Greg was a prankster, scaring family by putting on a Michael Myers mask and lurking in the darkness, waiting to scare you. He had a sense of humor where you knew he was joking but you were never quite sure. When someone would claim to be the “best” at anything, Greg would declare that he was “the Dakota County Champion!” of that event or activity. It did not matter what it was, he was the “champion” of it.

Greg loved to travel and brought his family on many cross-country vacations to Florida, California, South Dakota and South Carolina, with four restless children in the back asking “are we there yet?” while towing a 28’ RV. He enjoyed camping in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He loved listening to music and quizzing his family on “Who sings it?” He had a love of horror films and old western movies, because deep down, he was a cowboy. He loved to sit in the garage and watch the summer storms roll in while listening to the Doors. He could not dance but he enjoyed trying. He loved watching Saturday morning cartoons with his children and SpongeBob

SquarePants with his grandchildren. And he did everything he could to make sure his children and grandchildren had the best lives possible.

Greg will be deeply missed by his wife of 47 years, Nita, his children; Shelley (Eric), Christy (Blake), Gregory, Jr. (Patricia), and Lizabeth (Mike), grandchildren; Alex, Cameron, Aysia, Thabiso, Tegan, and Raiden, and his father Gerald and sister Tami.

He is preceded in death by his mother, Catherine.

Services for Greg will be held at 11:00 am on Tuesday, November 7th at the Cremation Society of Minnesota, 7110 France Avenue South, Edina, MN. Visitation will occur from 10:30 am to 11:00 am. Please join the family for a luncheon immediately following the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Greg’s memory to http://spot.fund/4k1prsc