Ann's Obituary

Here is the obituary, from the Fargo Forum (OK, OK - I switched out the picture...) :

Ann A. Geiszler

Ann Adeline (Dravland Kuehn) Geiszler, 83, loving mother, teacher, mentor, karaoke queen, and beautiful lady, died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday, May 8, 2010, at Eventide Lutheran Home in Moorhead, Minnesota.

Ann was born January 13, 1927, in Bottineau, North Dakota, to Jonas and Theresa (Utgaard) Dravland. She grew up on the family homestead near Carbury and graduated from Bottineau High School. She received her teaching certificate from Minot State in 1944 and taught in a one-room country school in the foothills of the Turtle Mountains.

She treasured early memories of Grandpa Ole holding her on his knee calling her “Lis (little) Anna,” his blessing for enduring the pain of losing his wife Anna a year before Ann was born. Ann loved to recount the Norwegian stories Grandpa Ole would tell and understood the tales even though they were told in Norwegian. She also told of making her favorite Christmas goodies, lefse, fatteman, and pinwheel cookies with her mama. Those traditions she carried on with her children and grandchildren.

Ann married Walter Kuehn in 1946 and they operated grocery stores in Antler and Granville, North Dakota, until Walt’s death in 1960. After Walt’s death, Ann’s brother, Vernon, helped her locate a job with Concordia College in Moorhead, and she moved to the big city to start a new life with her three boys, Jack, Dan, and Herbert. She worked at Concordia as a secretary and bookkeeper for 29 years, retiring in 1989.

In 1962 Ann married Raymond Geiszler and she embraced as her own his three children, Raymond Elroy, Lorray, and Raney. Together Ann and Ray had one child, Dina Rae. The children of that “yours, mine, and ours” family are blessed with wonderful memories of a truly caring and loving parentage. Ray died in March of 1998.

Ann was again alone, but as all who knew her know, she was never down and out. Ann loved life and all it has to offer. Her faith in God, her love of family, and her joy of living were an inspiration to all who knew her. Never idle, she volunteered for over 30 years bringing songs, smiles, and love to those staying at Eventide, the Fairmont, and The Evergreens.

Ann was very outgoing and her favorite thing was spending time with her children, grandchildren, and family. (Remember being bounced on Ann’s knee listening to “Dita dita Runkin, Hesta hida plunkin......Voof Voof Voof.”?) She loved to play the piano, hold (and attend) card parties, participate in the Young at Heart meetings, do needlework, and – with her daughter Dina – help to organize the annual Dravland family reunions.

During the past 10 years Ann became involved in singing karaoke and subsequently became quite a local attraction. In the Farmers Forum of December 16, 2005, she was featured as the “Karaoke Queen” and was recognized, under the stage name “Annabelle”, as a star singer at many karaoke venues.

The one thing that most stands out in Ann’s life is the way she treated everyone with whom she came in contact. She was truly a loving, caring human being. She could always find the good side of any situation and would brighten even the darkest moments with her spirit and big smile.

Ann was preceded in death by her parents, Jonas and Theresa; husbands, Walter and Raymond; sisters, Alice Sivertson and Viola Sorensen; brothers, Alfred, Ozzie, Theodore, Sydney I, Allan, and Sydney II; two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Ann is survived by her children, Jack and Patricia Kuehn, Fort Worth, TX, Dan Kuehn, Taos, New Mexico, Herbert and Janice Kuehn, Anderson, South Carolina, and Dina Rae and James Loomer, Moorhead; stepchildren, Raymond and Susan Geiszler, Oxnard, CA, Lorray and Reed Jonason, Oakdale, MN, and Raney Geiszler, Moorhead; 22 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren; and her brother, Vernon and Eunice Dravland, Lethbridge, Alberta.

All who knew her will sorely miss her, and one can picture her now, standing on stage in heaven in her lavender dress and her Julia Roberts hat, with St. Peter holding the mike while she belts out the chorus of “Did I Shave My Legs For This?”

Visitation: Wednesday, 4 PM to 7 PM, Korsmo Funeral Chapel, Moorhead

Funeral: Thursday, May 13, 2010, 2 PM, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Moorhead

Online guestbook: www.korsmofuneralservice.com

A Ray of Hope 1962 - 2000

"In 1962 I met Raymond Geiszler at a New Years Eve party. I brought spaghetti for lunch. He said he wanted to marry whoever brought the spaghetti and he did. 

"He had 3 children by a former marriage to Loretta Gwin: Raymond ElRoy, who was 20, Lorray, who was 14, and Raney, who was 8. At that time Jack was 15, Dan was 10, and Herb was 9. 

"We suddenly had a large family. ElRoy was in the army. Ray sold his house in north Moorhead. We quit having roomers, since we were able to fill all the rooms with our children. 

"Ray worked for Selland Motors in Fargo as a mechanic. 

"April 18, 1963 Dina Rae was born. I worked only part time for awhile, taking work home with me. When I started working full time, Rays brother, Edwin and his wife, Vange, baby-sat Dina and during the summer months Dina's older brothers and sisters baby-sat her.

"I retired after 29 years at Concordia in 1989. Our first ten years of married life, Ray and I and our family traveled during our vacations, going to National Parks, Texas and California.

"Then we bought a lake home on Turtle Lake in Minnesota where we spent most of our free time fishing, swimming and relaxing. After about 10 years we sold it and bought a trailer home, which we parked in a campground on Buffalo Lake. Later we sold that also, deciding wed like travel again or just stay home.

"One memorable trip was to England and France during the 50th celebration of the Normandy invasion. Ray had been a part of that when he was in the army and was wounded on the 3rd day of the invasion. We saw and heard President Clinton and the Premier of France, Mitterand, give speeches.

"We went to many small towns that had been liberated where we marched in parades and partook in lots of banquets. We also stayed in the home of a French family for a few days.

 Ray(ElRoy), Jack, Herb, Dan, Mom, Raney, Dina, Lorray 1998

"We sold our house and moved into a condominium in 1995. The yard work and snow shoveling was getting too much for Ray.

"Ray died March 30, 1998. Since then I've been learning how to get along on my own, with lots of help from family, church and friends.

"My main interests are playing the piano for the Eventide Choir and for Young at Heart meetings, playing games on the computer, receiving and sending E-mail, needlework, church activities and traveling to visit family or going on tours, helping with the family reunion, being treasurer of the condo board.

"Not necessarily in that order."

from The Ann Adeline Dravland Story on dravland.com

A Kuehn Life 1947 - 1960

"Sometimes when Ozzie and I were on our way home from the school on Fridays we would stop by the bar in Souris, where we got to know the owner, Walt Kuehn.

"Walt and I got married in 1946. Jack was born June 4, 1947. We lived in an apartment above the bar until we bought a house. We lived in Souris until 1950.

Walt's Bar: Grandpa Jonas Dravland, Uncle Ozzie Dravland, ?, ?, Aunt Alice (Dravland) & Neil Sivertson, ?, Mom, Jack, Dad.

"There was an incident where a man was killed while drinking and driving. Our Pastor said we should find some other business. When a chance came up to buy a grocery store in Antler, we decided to sell the bar and move there.

"The grocery business was a lot more work, but more satisfying. We also sold dry goods and bought cream and eggs. We had to test the cream and candle the eggs. In Antler we lived behind the store. Dan was born Feb. 7, 1952 and Herb was born Aug. 8, 1953. Walt was president of the town's Commercial Club. In 1954 Antler celebrated their 50th Anniversary. Walt was busy helping plan all of the events. We made a float for the store and had it in the parade.

"There was no Protestant Church in Antler, so all of us who weren't Catholic started a Community Church. Mr. Miller, who was a Nazarene minister, was our pastor, although none of us belonged to the Church of the Nazarene. I played the piano for church and the choir and Walt sang tenor in the choir. The boys always had to sit in the front row in church. Sometimes our choir would travel to other towns to sing.

 "In 1958 we decided to move to Granville, ND which was a bigger growing town and there was a grocery and dry goods store for sale. When Garrison Diversion was going to get started it was supposed to turn into a much larger city with all the surrounding farms getting smaller and using irrigation. Now, in 2000, it still hasn't come to that area. We remodeled the store there and built an attached apartment to live in. It was a nice friendly town, but too close to the competition of Minot.

"After having two heart attacks, Walt decided to get out of the grocery business. Rev. Haeger of Arthur and the head of the Good Samaritan Homes said he would train Walt to be a manager of a Good Samaritan Home. Walt traveled around visiting different homes and trained in Hastings, Nebraska for awhile.

"I stayed home with the kids and minded the store while he was gone. After selling the store to our competitor in Granville, we packed up everything. Before we were going to leave for the Good Samaritan Home in Minnesota that Walt was going to manage and I was going to be the matron, we decided to go visit Alice and Neil and Ozzie.

"After a day of visiting friends and relatives from the Bottineau and Carbury area, we went to bed. During the night Walt had his last fatal heart attack. This was in May, 1960. After the funeral at Turtle Mountain Church the boys and I stayed at Alice And Neils for the summer.

"I applied for and was accepted for a job in a department store in Bottineau and found a small house for sale. Vernon and Eunice suggested that before I made any definite plans, I should come to Moorhead, MN and check out the opportunities there. I stayed with them for awhile and checked around for jobs available.

"I went to Concordia College and talked to Amy Erickson, the director of the Food Service. She said she had been looking for someone like me to be a secretary and bookkeeper. A friend of Vern's was selling his house, so I bought it.

"This was August of 1960. In order to make ends meet, I took in roomers and rented out the garage. I had 3 roomers in the basement and 2 on the main floor. The boys and I slept in the rooms upstairs."

(Editors note: Ann must have had a whole host of angels looking after her because she was able to buy a house, across the street from Concordia College, without a down payment and get a job all in one weekend.)"

from The Ann Adeline Dravland Story on dravland.com

Later 1942 - 1947

"When I got to be a Junior in High School I had to go to Bottineau for my last two years. My Junior year I stayed with a girlfriend's family. The next year I stayed above the Candy Kitchen with several other single women.

"I worked at restaurants for my board. I worked at the Steinmeir Cafe and Rosie's Place. At Rosie's I did everything from cooking, waiting tables, and shopping to taking care of the ration books to get our allotments of sugar, coffee and meat.

"I remember V.J. Day (victory over Japan). I was waiting tables at Steinmeir's. They were running short of hamburger, so I had to run over to another cafe to borrow some. That was when the news came and every one was celebrating and opening bottles of champagne. It took awhile for me to get back with the hamburger, but nobody cared.

"The summer between my Junior and Senior year I went to Seattle to stay with Vi & LeRoy and baby-sit Cheryl while they worked at the Boeing Aircraft factory. Evenings, LaVonne, LeRoys sister and I would sometimes go to the PX to dance or play ping pong with the soldiers on leave. We would take a bus there and back. We would enjoy doing our patriotic duty! I also liked going to White Center to rollerskate.

"After graduating from high school in 1944, I went to Minot State Teachers College and after 3 months got an Emergency Teachers Certificate. There was a shortage of teachers because of the war.

"During our Graduation exercises, they announced there was a phone call for me. They were calling from home and said I should take the next train home as mom was sick. When I got to Carbury Ted met the train and told me mom had died. She had gone into a coma two days before she died from encephalitis, which was an epidemic that year. They hadn't told me because they wanted me to finish school and there wasn't anything anyone could do for her.

"The first year I taught in a country school in the foothills of the Turtle Mountains. It was close enough so I could stay at home. I had 8 students and 8 different grades.

The next year I taught at a country school near Landa, ND, with about 13 students.

"I lived there in the school in a part that was curtained off. I kept the fire going in a pot belly stove. I enjoyed teaching and especially the programs we would have for the parents at Christmas. Ozzie would come and get me to take me home for the week-ends."

from The Ann Adeline Dravland Story on dravland.com