Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 270970
Title: Rita A. Schwan
Date: 3/27/1944-12/9/2023
Inscription/Marks: 3/27/1944
Summary: Rita Schwan, 79, Williston, ND, passed away December 9, 2023, at her home. A funeral Mass was held December 18, 2023, at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Williston. She was laid to rest in the Riverview Cemetery in Williston. Rita Ann Schwan was born March 27, 1944, in Rugby, ND, to Frederick and Anne (Gerger) Geisinger. She spent her childhood years on the family farm with her parents and three siblings, Patricia, Paulette, and Stephen. In 1959 the family moved to Minot, ND. Rita attended Bishop Ryan High School and graduated in 1962. In November 1962 Rita met Gerald Schwan of Minot. On September 14, 1963, they were married at Our Lady of Grace Church in Minot. To that union four children were born - Brent, Susan (Lynch), Gary, and Brian. Rita worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital until the family moved to Williston. In April of 1970, the family made the move to Williston where she would spend the rest of her life. Rita was a stay at-home mom until going to work for Manger Insurance in 1973. She worked for Manger’s for 40 years before semi-retiring in 2014. For many years in that time frame Rita also managed the Bingo Barn in Williston. She made many great friends at the Bingo Barn. Retirement didn’t mean relaxation for Rita. She continued many hours volunteering for various organizations. In the mid-80s, Rita and Jerry Wells founded the Williston Wrestling Club. She, along with many, many volunteers spent countless hours through the years developing and growing the club. Rita was also a prominent volunteer at Mercy Hospital, was a Past Regent of the Women of the Moose, and just in November of this year she was named Volunteer of the Month at the Williston Senior Center. She spent many more hours assisting other organizations and individuals. One thing Rita could never say to people in need of assistance was “No.” Rita’s greatest passion in life was her family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Nothing brought her greater joy than that precious time with them. She is survived by sister, Patricia Nygaard (Dennis); sister, Paulette Gonzalez (Tony); brother, Stephen; her significant other, Gerald; son, Brent (Marella); daughter, Susan Lynch (Derek); son, Gary (Sara Solberg); son, Brian (April); seven surviving grandchildren, Shelly Norbeck (Keith), Samantha Kienholz (Kyle), Riley Lynch, Nicholas Ladwig (Melinda), Shane Miller (Meridith), Sherri Hamers, and Brianna Schwan; eight great-grandchildren, Natalie Norbeck, Jacob Norbeck, soon – baby Norbeck, Kooper Kienholz, Kendall Kienholz, Maci Jo Ladwig, Hollis Hamers, Scarlett Hamers. She was preceded in death by her father, Frederick; her mother, Anne; grandson, Michael, and grandson, Jared.
Red ID: FND_I_78461

Collection: FND001 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Date: -

Summary: The North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program is sponsored by the North Dakota Funeral Directors Association. The life stories of deceased North Dakotans are featured in an archvied collection. Current partners in the project are Eastgate Funeral & Cremation Services, Bismarck Evans Funeral Homes, Carrington and New Rockford Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home, Williston Fulkerson Funeral Home, Tioga Fulkerson Funeral Home, Watford City Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home, Williston Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck Springan Stevenson Funeral Home, Stanley Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson These funeral homes provide recent obituaries to the Foundation, where staff and volunteers format, edit and archive each memorial. The memorials are posted, and copies are sent to the family for their input and approval. The listing currently features more than 13,000 memorials, and is constantly updated as new memorials and histories are received.

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.

Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.