Pat Grant, wife of Vikings coach, dies

She was a longtime, devoted volunteer at Fairview Southdale Hospital -- as well as Bud Grant's wife.

By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune

Last update: March 4, 2009 - 11:19 PM

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Pat Grant, 81, wife of legendary Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant and mother of Eden Prairie High School football coach and athletic director Mike Grant, died Wednesday in Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina of complications from Parkinson's disease.

She volunteered for 30 years at Fairview Southdale, where she ran errands and delivered supplies.

She spent most of her time in the Family Lounge, where she comforted families who had loved ones in the Intensive Care Unit. She logged more than 6,000 hours of volunteer service from October 1973 to May 2003, said Pamela Mills, manager of Volunteer Services.

"She was a gem," Mills said. "She was a sweet, humble volunteer who did whatever was needed. Everybody loved her."

At home, she raised four boys and two girls, and was "a consummate homemaker," said her husband of 59 years, who led the Vikings to four Super Bowls.

Pat Grant graduated from St. Paul Murray High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota, where she majored in home economics and minored in journalism.

In addition to her husband and son Mike, she is survived by sons Peter, of Delano; Bruce, of Victoria, and Dan, of Eden Prairie; daughters Laurie Tangert, of Minnetonka, and Kathy Fritz, of Waconia; brothers Bob Nelson, Phil Nelson and Chuck Nelson; 19 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 13600 Technology Dr., Eden Prairie. Visitation will be at 12:30 p.m. Sunday in the church.

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