Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 271668
Title: Thomas J. Dodds
Date: 11/29/1972-7/11/2025
Creator:
Inscription/Marks: 11/29/1972
Summary: Thomas James Christopher Dodds, 52, passed away July 11, 2025, in Watford City, ND. A Celebration of Life service was held July 21, 2025 at the Fulkerson Stevenson Memorial Chapel in Watford City. Tom was born November 29,1972, to Jackson and DeLaura Dodds, in Bismarck, ND. He was born the baby of the family, joining his four older siblings. Tom spent endless hours enjoying the cows, geese, pheasants, and all the other animals they raised on their property. This is where his love of nature came from. He spent most of his school years in Bismarck, until they moved to Watford City, where he graduated high school. After high school he attended multiple colleges, earning a degree in construction engineering. In 1998, Tom married Kristin Bohn and from this union his daughter Ivy Rae was born. In 2001 their family was complete when their twin boys, Fox and Jackson, arrived. In 2004, Tom and his children returned to Watford City, and in 2006, he married Tonia Fricke. Together Tom and Tonia raised the kids with their “other mother,” Grandma DeLaura. He attended the kids' sporting events, especially hockey, where his loud opinionated voice was sure to be heard. Tom was a lover of all things nature and anything on four wheels that made that beautiful rumble when started. Tom loved the outdoors; he could tell you what kind of bird flew by, and what constellation you were looking at in the sky. His love of cars and drag racing was known by all. If he could have, he would have attended every drag race, derby or bump and run that was nearby. His absence will leave an immeasurable void that will never be filled. Tom will be dearly missed by his wife, Tonia, of Watford City; his dog Savvy - his best friend and companion; children, Ivy (Adrian) Castaneda, of Watford City, and Fox Dodds and Jackson Dodds, of Crookston, MN; brothers, Jeff (Laura) Dodds, of Watford City, and Mike (Tammie) Dodds, of Billings, MT; along with numerous nieces, great-nieces, nephews, and great-nephews. He is also survived by his first precious granddaughter, Sterling Rae Castaneda who arrived the same day Tom climbed the stairway to Heaven. Tom was met on the Stairway to Heaven by his parents, Jack and DeLaura Dodds; brother, Steven Dodds; and sister, Patricia Westerholm. He will be missed by many, forgotten by none. Tom lived life vividly, and in the words of Johhny Cash, “I found out that there weren’t too many limitations, if I did it my way.”
Red ID: FND_I_79164 Image ID: 529156 Image Notes: FND001 271668

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.