Ricarda Maria Kelso

Ricarda Maria Kelso, DVM

Born August 27, 1960 in Lippstadt, Germany to Renate and Richard Knudsen. She lived in Lippstadt with her mom, dad and Familie Visarius (her mother’s German family) for several years before the young family returned to the United States. Her father was a Lutheran pastor and the family (brothers Julian and Christopher, sister Emily) lived in various places – Detroit, Chicago, San Diego, Minneapolis, and a 300-acre farm in Wisconsin’s “Coulee Country.” Ricci was both a city girl and a farm girl, but she liked being a farm girl best. Riding horses with her best friend Tammy, helping with the field work and taking care of cows, horses, pigs, goats and of course a lot of dogs and cats all started at a young age and eventually became her life’s work.

Ricci earned a degree in biology at the University of Minnesota, then married her long-time friend Frank Kelso. Frank also earned degrees from the U and took a job as an engineer while Ricci went to work earning her degree in veterinary medicine. She graduated at the top of her class in 1989.

The young couple lived in St. Paul (for vet school) then Foley, Minnesota for a year, before moving to Le Sueur, Minnesota. There they raised a family of three girls (Erin, Muriel, and Clairissa (Claire)) while Ricci simultaneously helped grow a vet clinic. The vet clinics were “mixed animal practices,” meaning she worked on both large and small animals. Cows were her favorite (Jerseys especially), but she also loved cats and dogs, and “Doctor Ricci” became a very skilled diagnostician and surgeon. What had begun as a predominantly farm animal practice became over the years a small animal practice, and eventually she worked exclusively with dogs and cats (and their people!). The vet clinic was her second family: Kathy, Michelle, Jody, and so many people and their companions she knew and loved, too many to all be mentioned by name here.

Throughout her life Ricci was dedicated to the continued growth of her spirituality. She loved reading books on theology, philosophy, and the world’s religions. In 2010, she became an oblate of St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota. In later years, she hoped to become a spiritual director (especially for other veterinarians who cope with grief, illness, recovery, life and death, on a daily basis). Although she was not able to fulfill this goal, she encouraged the spiritual growth of many close to her.

The years went by too quickly. The girls grew up, graduated, and moved away to begin lives and careers of their own, but the family ties remain very strong. The girls became frequent visitors at home, and Ricci and Frank enjoyed taking trips with them and visiting them in Atlanta, Madison, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Heidelberg, and Berlin. Daughters had become friends over the years.

Doctor Ricci retired in November 2023 and had to leave her beloved vet family and her wonderful clients and their pets, most of whom she knew almost as well as their own people. Just a few short months into a well-earned retirement, Ricci was diagnosed with lung cancer. Fit and healthy all her life and never having smoked, the diagnosis came as a shock. It was an aggressive cancer, and despite receiving the best care in the world from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Ricci died April 17th, 2025, not quite a year after her diagnosis.

Ricci loved to be out in nature, whether gardening, kayaking, caring for her “outside family” (cats and chickens) or taking long walks: she could identify any bird by its song. Cooking was her love language, and she expressed her affection by making her loved ones their favorite foods, especially big brunches. She was an amateur homeopath, committed to healing the sick animals that crossed her path (and family too). She didn’t mince words. She had a strong gut instinct which she trusted, and she always spoke her mind. She was humble and cared far more about lifting others up than adding feathers to her own cap. She was a loving wife and mother, and a faithful and loyal friend to all.

Ricarda is survived by Frank, her husband of 42 years, and their daughters, Erin (Denny) Kelso, Muriel (Sahil) Tadwalkar, granddaughter Veera Tadwalkar, and Claire Kelso and her partner Utku Sağlam. She is deeply missed.