Posted by Neola Kofoid Garbe:  Bottineau & Minot, ND

Lowell Leonard (DHS Class ’59)

1941 – 2016

 Lowell Leonard

December 15, 1941 – November 05, 2016

LOWELL LEONARD

  Lowell Leonard, age 73 of Dunseith, died Saturday, November 5, 2016 in a Rolette health care center.

Art Rude Senior
Face Book Posting from Art Rude (’71): Bismarck, ND

Memorial Service

Saturday, November 12, 2016
10:00 AM

Peace Lutheran Church

Dunseith, ND 58329

Art Rude

My Dad, Art Rude Sr’s story starts in his mother’s classroom. Hannah Larshus had graduated top of her class at Sacred Heart, Minnesota and started teaching school not long afterward, 1914-1915. You didn’t need an education beyond High School to teach, you needed someone to hire you. She was paid $12 a month, with $6 paid each month plus help with chores for room and board, and usually saved $4 a month. How many of us today save 1/3 of what we make? She had an adult first grader from Norway by the name of Gilbert Rude who as was common in the day, came to the country school as an elementary student to learn English. In 1919 she married him, which was not common, and they moved to Mullen Idaho where Gilbert worked in the mine.
On May 1, 1923, Arthur Russell Rude was born in the neighboring town hospital at Wallace Idaho. His older brother Gilbert Otis Rude had been born there two years earlier. Five years later in 1928, Gilbert and Hannah moved their young family to a farm in the Turtle Mountains, purchased with money saved while Gilbert worked in the mines. Hannah had family there, and she soon needed their help, as Gilbert became a patient at San Haven shortly after they moved, eventually dying from lung disease presumably from his years in the mine. So Hannah had two young boys to raise by herself in the middle of the Depression. Art and his brother learned to work at an early age and Hannah’s father Ole Larshus would walk the 6 miles from his farm in Bottineau County to help out when he could. Hannah’s brothers Oscar, Henry, and Albert Larshus, as well as neighbors would also help. It was a different time, far different than today. Life was tough, and they became tough.
As transportation also was far different than it is today, when Art’s older brother was ready for High School, Art was moved up two grades so they could attend together. They had a room above one of the stores in Dunseith, had jobs to earn their room and board while they went to high school, and were able to go home to the farm on weekends. Both brothers graduated in 1939, Art was only 16. He skated around Willow Lake on December 7, 1941 with a good friend, and went to a Luther League meeting in the evening where they learned about Pearl Harbor. He was terribly disappointed when he was classified 4F because of a recent back injury, while his brother was accepted and went to the Navy to serve in the Pacific theater. Art was determined to serve how he could and began to teach school, a service he rendered for 49 years, 39 of them in the Dunseith system. He also taught in several rural schools, including a 2 teacher school, Oxford, south of Rolla ND, with his mother. He was married in 1950 to Bertha Ingulsrud of Edmore, ND who at the time was working at San Haven north of Dunseith. She previously had been a patient there along with her father and several siblings. They had one son, Arthur Odin Rude, born March 31, 1953 in Rolla, during the time that Art taught at Oxford and Bertha cooked.
After returning to Dunseith, and eventually the farm, Art began teaching in the Dunseith system. He went summers to get his “Standard” 2 year teaching degree, and eventually his Bachelors degree in 1964, attending a total of 17 summer sessions to get his 4 year degree. After getting his degree, he worked many summers, as well as later in the years after retirement from teaching, measuring agricultural commodities for the USDA farm service, so Art was well known to most of the farmers in Rolette County. He took extra classes and was one of the first people in North Dakota to receive an Elementary Principal Certificate.
Art loved to teach, and History was his favorite. He had a banner that hung in his classroom for many years that read, “We study the past to appreciate the present and prepare for the future.” After retirement he did much work with the Rolette County Historical Society in St. John ND and the Hawk Farm Museum by Wolford, ND, and was always excited to share the history of rural North Dakota. He also was on the state board for the Easter Seals Society of North Dakota, and active in the Retired Teacher’s Association.
Although encouraged to go elsewhere to be with family, Art refused to leave Dunseith. He had lifelong friends there, as well as former students, it was home. He spent several years at the Dunseith Community Nursing Home, and died there at age 93, Monday October 31. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother, and wife. He is succeeded by one son; Art and wife Grace of Bismarck, 4 grandchildren; Ben of Ashville NC, Brandon of NY NY, Hannah Rude Wickey of Cheyenne WY, and Nikki of Bismarck. He also has 8 great grandchildren.
There will be a “Celebration of Life” service at Peace Lutheran Church in Dunseith, Saturday November 12, at 10:00 AM.

From Larry Hackman (’66):  Bismarck, ND

Does anybody know this guy?

Turtle Mtn. Elk?

A friend gave me this picture of an Elk shot in the turtle Mountains within the last few weeks.  It’s a friend  of a friend so can’t recall the name or the area.

====================================
Blog (516) posted on July 19, 2009

Posted on July 19, 2009