FARGO — Her first childhood nickname was a common one: “Peanut.”

But it wasn’t quite the right fit for tiny Miss Kelsie Maureen LeClerc.

But that would change.

When she was 18 months old, fighting through her first heart surgery and a follow-up infection that nearly killed her, she inspired another more appropriate nickname: “Cashew.”

After all, said her dear Aunt Rosalie, “she’s no ordinary nut.”

The nickname stuck for life. It proved prophetic. For all of her 39 years, Kelsie remained small in stature but mighty in spirit — quirky, resilient and determined to make her short life count.

“I don’t think she was 5 feet tall, but she had a will of steel,” said Angela Smith, associate professor of history at North Dakota State University. “She had gone through so much in her life, and ye

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