March 23, 2011

Leanore Mariner

Funeral services for Leanore M. Mariner, 98, of Watford City, N.D., were held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, March 18, 2011, at the Fulkerson Funeral Home Chapel in Watford City. Rev. Adrian Timmons officiated, and interment took place in the Highland Home Cemetery at Jamestown, N.D.
Leanore Margret Louise Petersen was born Dec. 23, 1912, the second child of four children and daughter of Harry H. and Louise Matilda (Hanish) Petersen on the family homestead near Ballantine, Mont. She was baptized at an early age by a traveling minister. The family moved east to Debs, Minn., and later to Bemidji, Minn. Leanore attended a part of her schooling in those communities, and later graduated from high school in Pettibone, N.D., in 1931. Education was important to her and she pursued a rural teacher’s certificate from Valley City State Teachers College.
 Leanore was united in marriage to Ralph Dudley Mariner on June 30, 1935. Dud, as he was locally known, was a farmer and well-driller in the Pettibone and Woodworth area. The couple made their home on the Mariner homestead. While Dud served in the Army during World War II, Leanore taught in rural area schools in both North Dakota and Minnesota. When Dud returned from the service, they returned to the Mariner homestead. Their only child, Kathleen, was born in 1957, and Ralph Dudley died in 1963, when she was only six years old.
Leanore moved to Bismarck so she was closer to school. She resided there until moving to Breckinridge, Minn., where she could be closer to her first grandchild, Jesse Trana, born in 1985. Because her grandchildren were so much a part of her life, Leanore moved to Watford City in 1994, after Kathleen and husband, Gary, moved to rural Keene. She continued to make Watford City her home.
 Leanore was a lifelong learner; she loved music of many kinds, including older country western music, waltzs such as the Blue Danube, and the classical works of Beethoven. She was a Girl Scout Leader for many years, and received her 10-year pin. She served on the Sakakawea Council and was a member of the Sunnyside District.
While she retained her membership in the United Church of Christ in Bismarck, locally she enjoyed the ministry of Rev. Timmons of Johnson Corners Wesleyan Church.
 Leanore died at the McKenzie County Memorial Hospital in Watford City on Wednesday, March 16, 2011.
 She is survived by her daughter, Kathleen (Gary) Trana, of Keene, N.D., and their children; Jesse (Karen) Trana, of Fargo, N.D., and Elisabeth Trana, of Keene, N.D., and many nieces and nephews.
 Leanore was preceded in death by her parents; husband; one sister, Charlotte Wirtz; and two brothers, Harry (a missing in action veteran, WWII) and Calvin Petersen.
Condolences and memories may be shared with the family online at www.fulkersons.com.
 

WATFORD CITY WEATHER