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Dorothy Eleanor Schaan

Jan 22, 2010

Dorothy Eleanor Schaan, 88, formerly of Rugby, North Dakota, passed from this life to the next on Thursday, January 14, 2010, at Prairieview Nursing Home in Underwood, North Dakota.

She was born on her father’s birthday, February 2, 1921, on the family homestead southeast of Belfield, North Dakota, in Stark County, the daughter of Christian and Clara Theresa Anderson. She attended elementary school in Zenith and graduated from Belfield High School. She earned a teaching certificate in elementary education from Dickinson State Teachers College. After graduation she began her 13 year adventure as a teacher at several small schools in North Dakota and Montana. She told many stories of her teaching days, being a Girl Scout Leader, having to arrive at the school early to get the pot-bellied stove going before the students arrived, and boarding with families who had children in school. She attended the University of Montana at Missoula and it was when she went to further her education at North Dakota State University that she met Leo Schaan, whom she married June 7, 1954 at Bernard’s Catholic Church in Belfield. They lived in Devils Lake, Wishek, Harvey, and Forest River during Leo’s years of teaching and had five children along the way. In 1963, they moved to the ranch outside of Knox to raise Charolais cattle. Dorothy was active in the Knox Homemaker’s Club, was a 4-H Leader, a member of the Confraternity of Christian Mothers in Knox and Rugby, and taught CCD classes at St. Mary’s Church in Knox. Along with all the duties of a ranch wife and raising children, she cared for her mother, who lived with them for a time. When the younger children were finishing school, she took a job in Rugby as a nurse’s aide at the Long Term Care Unit at the Good Samaritan Hospital. She then became the activities director at the Harold S. Haaland Home in Rugby, a position she held for many years. In 1982, she and Leo moved into Rugby where she had a big garden that provided them with lots of beautiful flowers, as well as vegetables to put up and share. She enjoyed trying new recipes and foods from other cultures, and kept the freezer stocked with cookies and kolache. She loved to see new places; the trips she and Leo took provided many wonderful memories. Their visits to see the grandchildren were precious to her. Dorothy had a lifelong appreciation for the arts, and passed that love on to her children. She and Leo were in square dancing club for awhile and she began drawing, painting with watercolors and acrylics, doing various crafts, and stained-glass art until her eyesight deteriorated. She was a member of Little Flower Catholic Church in Rugby, and took great comfort and inspiration from her spiritual life. She entered the Haaland Home in November 2004 and lived there with Leo until a stroke made it necessary for her to move to the nursing home in Underwood, where she and Leo were able to be together until her death. Dorothy and Leo, as well as their family, have very much appreciated the compassionate and professional care they received at both the Haaland Home and Prairieview. She is survived by her husband of over 55 years, Leo in Underwood; and her five children: Liane and her husband Daryl Anderson – Minot, Lynelle and her husband David Aukes – Eden Prairie, Minn., Philip and his wife Lynn Schaan – Fargo, Kathleen Schaan and her husband Robert Scarlett – Bismarck, and Patricia and her husband Nader Dehaini – San Diego, Calif. She also leaves seven grandchildren: Clifton Anderson, Paul Aukes, Nicole, Michael, and Sarah Schaan, and Diana and Rhonda Dehaini. She also leaves one great-grandchild, Kylee Pierson-Aukes. In addition she leaves her sister, Mary Ann Binstock – Dickinson. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Leo Anderson, and his wife Olga; her sister, Edith Miller, and her husband Joe; her husband’s parents, Valentine and Rosa Schaan; brothers-in-law Frank and Philip Schaan, and Leo Klein; and sisters-in-law Theresa Schaan and Dorothy Morrisey.

Funeral services were held Thursday, January 21, 2010, at Little Flower Catholic Church in Rugby with Rev. Thomas Graner officiating. Casketbearers were her grandchildren. Music was provided by Robert Graber, song leader, and Angie Deplazes, organist.

Burial was in the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery in Mandan on Friday, January 22.