Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 271772
Title: Kenneth E. Hammeren
Date: 3/14/1948-8/7/2025
Creator:
Inscription/Marks: 3/14/1948
Summary: Kenneth Edwin Hammeren, 77, Bismarck, ND, passed away August 7,2025, surrounded by family. A memorial service was held September 19, 2025, at Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck. Ken was born March 14,1948, in Watford City, ND, the second to the youngest of eight children born to Ingwald and Helen Hammeren. Ken was proud of his Watford City roots, and spoke often of the community and his lifelong friends. Ken loved nature and the outdoors, particularly the Badlands. During his first year of life, the family home burned down. While the Pastor and community rebuilt the house, Ken spent much of that year in a bassinet under the shade of a tree in their front yard. His mother attributed his love of nature to this early experience. Ken attended school in Watford City until his senior year. He returned often for class reunions and community events, always happy to see old friends. Ken graduated with the class of 1967 at Richardton High. He was a talented athlete, and continued his sports participation under the guidance of his brother, Harold, who was the coach at Richardton. Ken appreciated that his class at Richardton welcomed him and included him in many class gatherings. Ken attended Bismarck Junior College until he was inducted into the US Army on April 4, 1968. He served in Germany, and was honorably discharged March 15, 1970. The Army wanted Ken to extend his service to exclusively travel and play basketball for the US Army team, but Ken chose instead to come home. Ken was married to Jacque Hopfauf. Together they had two children, Kemberly and Shawn. Although he did not see them as often as he would have liked after they left North Dakota, Ken loved them both and carried them in his heart forever. In 1979, Ken and Laurie Sterioti were married. They resided in Bismarck, and had one son Michael. Ken had a gentle heart, was a loving husband, an outstanding father, and proud Papa to his grandchildren. His greatest joys in life were his family, friends and work. Ken took great pride in his successful heavy industrial sales career. He was genuinely grateful for his customers, and cherished the many friendships that ensued. Ken was outgoing, loved people and pets, and had fun wherever he was. Ken was an avid sports fan, and a lifelong Packers and Yankees fan, to the consternation of his friends who supported the Vikings. Ken was a loyal friend. He enjoyed bowling and played softball with his buddies for over 30 years. The McQuade Tournament was always a highlight of the summer. Ken drove many extra miles to get back to Bismarck so as not to miss his son Mike’s sporting events. Hunting and fishing were also his passions. He arranged many outings for family and friends, and appreciated the McKenzie County and other landowners who allowed him hunting access. Ken loved music and dancing, often twirling his wife Laurie around the kitchen in perfect two step fashion. Although Ken had serious medical issues following a massive stroke 10 years ago, he never complained. He found joy in the life he had sharing time with his family at his favorite peaceful place, the cabin at Indian Hills on Lake Sakakawea, especially when his grandkids Harper and Jaxon were there. When he wasn’t fishing, Ken loved watching rodeo on TV or sitting on the deck just enjoying the beautiful view of the lake. He appreciated all of the wonderful lake and Mustang Drive neighbors who so willingly helped him and Laurie. Ken is survived by his wife of nearly 46 years, Laurie; his children, Kem, Shawn, and Mike (Nichole); son-in-law, Roy Thombs; grandchildren; brothers, Harold (Special Friend Colleen), Allen (Bonnie), Doug (Carole); uncle, Dale Evenson; sisters-in-law, Lane Devine and Patsy Hammeren; and many nephews, nieces, and cousins. Ken was preceded in death by his parents; stepfather, Roy Melby; sisters, Shirley Brown, Edna Hammeren, Linda Wingenbach; brother, Arnold; mother-in-law, LeOma Sterioti; father-in-law, Michael J. Sterioti; sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Ken Litt; brother-in-law, John Devine; nephews, Allen(Tubby)Hammeren, Justin Hammeren; niece; Shirlene VanNurden.
Red ID: FND_I_79267 Image ID: 537183 Image Notes: FND001 271772

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.