Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 271652
Title: Ida M. Harmon
Date: 5/10/1933-3/21/2025
Creator:
Inscription/Marks: 5/10/1933
Summary: Ida Harmon, 91, of Williston, ND, passed away March 21, 2025, at the Bethel Lutheran Nursing and Rehabilitation Home in Williston. Her funeral service was held March 28, 2025, at the Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard, ND. Pastor Garrett Gudmunsen officiated. She was laid to rest at the Wilmington Cemetery in Arnegard. Ida Maud Harmon was born May 10, 1933, about 10 miles south of Charbonneau in McKenzie County. Her parents were Vida Fern (Wetherelt) and Joseph P. Lester. She was the fourth of eight siblings. Ida spent her early years in and around Charbonneau, except for one year when her family moved to Troy, ID, when she was 4 years old. Ida attended several one-room schoolhouses in the Charbonneau area through the eighth grade and then she took correspondence courses. Ida worked hard her entire life. She began working at the early age of 10. She stayed with and worked for a Norwegian family for room and board so she could have a shorter walk to school. She moved to Williston when she was 17 where she worked for a couple as a live-in babysitter and horse feeder, then as a cook’s helper at the Curve Inn Café. Ida married Duane (Dewey) Evanson on November 14, 1952, at Our Redeemers Lutheran Church in Williston. Ida and Dewey moved from Williston to Charbonneau, back to Williston, and on to Rawson between 1953 and 1957. They finally settled in Arnegard in 1960 where they raised four children. Duane passed away in 1985, and in 1989 Ida married Robert Harmon. She and Robert continued to live in Arnegard. Ida worked at the Good Shepherd Home in Watford City until she retired, and in 2016 Ida and Robert moved to Golden Estates in Williston. Ida volunteered in several activities. She was a 4-H leader and a Cub Scout den mother. She was a member of the Wilmington Ladies Aid, a charter member of the Eagles Auxiliary, and a Lioness with the Arnegard Lions Club. Ida loved being outdoors. She worked hard to keep her flower beds looking nice, but her favorite outdoor pastime was fishing. Many summer days and weekends were spent at Arnegard Dam fishing for perch, Sather Dam fishing for trout, Yellowstone River fishing for catfish, and Tobacco Garden fishing for northern and walleye. Ida also loved her arts and crafts. She was exceptional at crocheting, sewing, making jewelry, and quilting. Ida was one of the few people who knew how to tat lace. She enjoyed painting and everyone in the family has one of her creations. Ida loved being a part of the Wilmington Church quilting group. She lovingly made quilts for almost every member of her family. Ida is survived by her children, Debra (Ken) Nelson, of Dickinson, ND, Barbara Evanson, of Mandan, ND, David (Penny) Evanson, of Williston, and Tracy Evanson, of Grand Forks, ND; her grandchildren, Brian (Dawn) Nelson and Brent (Kayla) Nelson, all of Dickinson, Valerie (Jason) McDaniel, and Jeremiah Evanson, all of Williston, and Gabrielle Evanson, of Grand Forks; five great-grandsons, Logan Nelson, Conor and Evan McDaniel, and Daven and Erik Nelson. She is also survived by her sisters, Thelma Vrana, of Upton, WY, and Hazel (Dan) Brossman, of Lander, WY; sister-in-law, Sammie Lester, of Fairview, MT; and stepchildren, Ken (Jeanine) Harmon, of Duluth, MN; Beverly (Dwight) Frank, of Beulah, ND; and Sandra (Henry) Metzger, of St. Paul, MN; and numerous nieces and nephews. Ida is being welcomed into her heavenly home by her husband, Duane Evanson and her husband, Robert Harmon; siblings, Tom Lester and wife Ruth, Annie Tysver and husband Joe, Elsie Carstens and husband Ernie, Lloyd Lester and wife Charleen, and Joe “Merle” Lester and wife Bettie.
Red ID: FND_I_79148 Image ID: 528900 Image Notes: FND001 271652

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.