Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 272282
Title: Michael Kuchenski
Date: 1/26/1928-8/9/2026
Inscription/Marks: 1/26/1928
Summary: Michael Kuchenski, 98, of Dickinson, ND, passed away August 9, 2026, at Hill Top Home of Comfort. A Liturgy of the Word was held August 20, 2026, at Stevenson Funeral Home in Dickinson, with Deacon Ron Keller celebrating. Burial was at St. Wenceslaus Cemetery. Mike's story began on his father's homestead in North Dakota, where he worked as a farmer before setting out to build a life and business of his own. He founded Mike's Excavation, which, through years of hard work and determination, grew to become one of the largest excavation business in southwestern North Dakota. But Mike's talents reached far beyond his work. Music would become one of his greatest joys in life. A naturally curious and gifted man, he taught himself to play several musical instruments and had a true gift for songwriting. In later years, while spending his winters in Texas, Mike could often be found singing and playing the guitar for large crowds, sharing the gospel and country music he loved so much. Mike also had a competitive streak. He became an accomplished billiards player, winning numerous championships over the years. He also had a love of stock car racing, his car proudly representing #88, a fitting choice, as 8 was always his favorite number. Even retirement couldn't slow his creative mind. Mike spent countless hours in his workshop designing, building, fixing, and inventing. He created tools and apparatuses that he used throughout his entire career. Yet for all he accomplished, those who knew Mike will perhaps remember most the man himself. He was even-tempered and steady, with a wonderful sense of humor and always a joke at the ready. He was hardworking, inventive, musical, competitive, and endlessly capable, a true original. He is survived by his daughter Charlene; son Marvin; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mike was predeceased by his daughter Daylene and his son Larry. He will be terribly missed.
Red ID: FND_I_79775

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.