Merv Nordeng
Merv Nordeng was born March 3, 1942, to Enoch and Bernice (Wold) Nordeng at a midwife's house in Watford City, N.D. He was raised on the family farm 13 miles northeast of town, where hard work and poor pay were not strangers (formerly known as poverty flats).
Merv graduated eighth grade from the same one-room school where his dad got his education (he graduated 7th grade). Merv got his Lutheran training at the Banks Church north of the farm a few miles. Merv graduated from Watford City High School in 1960 and to the surprise of his TKE brothers and his classmates at NDSU, he graduated in Electrical Engineering in regulation four years.
The first week of his junior year, he met a farmer's daughter from Rustad, Minn., when she came over to the TKE house looking for guys (She may have a rebuttal). Merv and Diane Valan were married on Father's Day, June 20, 1965, (in spite of the fact that he didn't have $500.00 and she hadn't graduated from college). They had a six-month honeymoon at Riverdale, N.D., where Merv was stationed with the Omaha District of the Army Corps of Engineers. Then they went back to Omaha, where Diane graduated from Omaha University (now UNO). Diane taught for a year and it was then back to N.D. for UND Law School. To the surprise of his classmates, Merv graduated in regulation three years (They told us the first semester to look at the guy to either side of you and know that one of you won't make it-notice I said guy since there weren't any gals).
After law school, Merv spent a year clerking for the N.D. Supreme Court in Bismarck and then was offered a job with the Cass County State's Attorney office as an Assistant State's Attorney, with the understanding that the incumbent wasn't going to run for reelection. "I don't know what I was thinking," said Merv, and on Jan. 1, 1975, Merv was installed as the elected State's Attorney. He bailed after four years and went into private practice with what became Wegner, Fraase, Nordeng, Johnson & Ramstad. Again, in 2001, he bailed and walked away from the law. Probably not his finest hour - sorry, Dear.
After retirement, Merv spent a lot of time in Watford City, helping his mother and sister and even giving his cousin Terry a vacation by feeding the cattle. When Diane retired from the VA Library in 2010, they spent several winters at Panama City Beach, Fla., where Merv's passions were shuffleboard and jigsaw puzzles (which Diane found contagious). They also spent a two-month stretch in Ft. Myers, Fla., where they had longtime friends who were also Democrats.
Merv's memorial service will be held at Olivet Lutheran Church in Fargo at a time to be determined at a (hopefully much) later date [see details below]. Merv's ashes will be scattered from the teepee ring on the first hill East of the home farmstead and he will be memorialized by a monument next to his parents, Enoch and Bernice (Wold) Nordeng, at the Banks Lutheran Cemetery and at the Comstock, Minn., Cemetery next to his in-laws, Grant and Florence (Malstrom) Valan.
Merv is hopefully survived by his wife, Diane, Fargo; his daughter, Amy Nordeng (Ben Feldman) of Vienna, Va.; and his son, Erik Nordeng of Fargo; his grandchildren, Ryelyn Nordeng and Joey Doherty and Gavin and Livy Nordeng; and their mother, Lisa. He is also survived by his brothers-in-law, Dave Kolding and Craig Valan; and his nieces and nephews, Jen (Gordy) Bentz, Jeff Kolding, Amber (Joel) Ferrie and Mac (Carrie) Valan. Merv was predeceased by sisters, Denise Nordeng and Janice Kolding.
Memorial Service will be at Olivet Lutheran Church, Fargo, N.D., on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at 11 a.m, with visitation one hour prior and will be livestreamed on the funeral home website.
Arrangements entrusted to Hanson-Runsvold Funeral Home - Fargo, N.D.