Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 272306
Title: Muriel "Lavonne" Hartel
Date: 8/25/1937-10/26/2025
Inscription/Marks: 8/25/1937
Summary: Muriel “Lavonne” Hartel, 88, of Williston, ND, passed away peacefully on October 26, 2025, in Windsor, Colorado. She was born on August 25, 1937, in Watford City, North Dakota, to Frank and Lilly (Sundeen) Jones. Lavonne grew up on the family farm, where she learned perseverance and the true meaning of hard work. She lost her mother at a young age, which greatly changed the family’s dynamic. Her sister Alice took on the roles of mother figure and elementary school teacher for Lavonne. Their relationship matured as they became close friends and later classmates in college. Lavonne’s love of cooking developed as she took on the role of preparing meals for her family following the loss of her mother. This was a lifelong passion as she greatly enjoyed feeding those she loved. She was nationally published as a field editor for Taste of Home and served as a judge for a County Fair pie contest. At the end of her career, she also worked as a cook for Head Start, finding innovative ways to meet the nutritional requirements for the children. She was an industrious child, neck-reining her cow christened Bud for transportation. Lavonne also sold cattle from her own brand to raise money for her college education. She earned her teaching degree from Minot State University. Following graduation from college, Lavonne married the love of her life, Duane Alvin Hartel, Sr. Alongside his son, whom she loved as her own, they had four children together. After working as an elementary school teacher, Lavonne stayed home with their children to raise them. As they grew older, she took on a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken in order to pay for her children’s college education. Lavonne had a love of music. While in college, she performed with her singing group on a local radio station. She continued this passion for music throughout her life, leading worship at her church and performing at weddings and funerals. Even after moving to Colorado, she continued to perform in her community’s choir. Lavonne was also a connoisseur of china, acquiring many place settings and collections that she passed along to her children and grandchildren. She sewed matching napkins for her friends and family to go with their carefully selected patterns. Lavonne developed a skill for sewing, creating clothing for her girls, and later, homemade teddy bears for her grandchildren. Her faith was the foundation of Lavonne’s life. She and Duane were committed to supporting the local church, and her greatest wish was that her children and grandchildren would walk closely with the Lord. Lavonne Hartel spent the last years of her life in Colorado, where she and Duane moved to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Lavonne is survived by her beloved husband, Duane Hartel, Sr.; her children, Duane Hartel, Jr. (Lisa), Dennis Hartel (Lisa), Shelly Lamb, Sandy Buckley (Roger), and Cory Hartel (Allison); 12 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; her brother, Ralph Jones; and numerous extended family and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents and siblings, Vernon, David, Don, Alice, Irene, and Edith. Lavonne will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her, but her legacy of love, strength, and kindness will live on in the hearts of her family forever.
Red ID: FND_I_79798

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.