Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 272153
Title: Rita A. Whittaker
Date: 10/22/1957-3/5/2026
Inscription/Marks: 10/22/1957
Summary: Rita Ann Whittaker, 68, of Zap, ND, went to be with the Lord on Thursday, March 5, 2026. Her loving husband, Mark, was constantly at her side during her struggle with cancer. Rita passed away at Sanford Health in Bismarck, ND. A memorial service was held March 13, 2026, at the Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home Chapel in Williston, ND. Rita was born October 22, 1957, to Leonard and Doris Vondal. She was born in the vehicle while her mother was transported to the hospital in Cavalier, ND, from Walhalla, ND. Mark and Rita were united in marriage on September 18, 1987 and enjoyed many years together. One of her greatest joys in life was when her sons and grandchildren would visit. She enjoyed painting and making dream catchers. She definitely was an expert donut maker and very artistic. Traveling in the Harley's sidecar with her dog, Banjo, and Mark as her chauffeur was one of her favorite ways to see the countryside. They visited many states and made many friends along the way. Rita always wanted to visit Bar Harbor, ME, and a few years back this became a reality. They enjoyed the Harley ride and dining on fresh lobsters by the ocean. She loved ice fishing and consistently out-fished everyone. Rita worked for ten years in the medical field where her compassion and empathy for the sick and elderly shined. She also worked at the “Mom and Pop Shop” in Zap and made friends with all the customers. She is survived by her sons, Chris (Kindra) Vondal, Mike (Gretel) Hermanson; grandchildren, Titus, Amelia, Hailey and Logan; sisters, Bonnie, Evelyn; brother, Lenny; and her loving companion, Banjo. Rita was preceded in death by her parents; four sisters, Cheryl, Brenda, Linda and Marilyn.
Red ID: FND_I_79645 Image ID: 557361 Image Notes: FND001 272153

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.