Bessie Mae Penner
Bessie M. Penner, 79 of Devils Lake formerly of Langdon and Starkweather, ND passed away on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at the Heartland Care Center, Devils Lake.
On September 9, 1933 a beautiful baby girl was born named Bessie Mae Balsdon. Bessie spent her early years living in the Langdon area.
She married Jacob Penner on October 23, 1951 and she and Jacob started their married life farming west of Langdon. They then moved to a farm west of Starkweather and she spent most of her married life on that farm where she loved to garden, can vegetables and take care of her flowers. Bessie worked at Woolworths in Devils Lake for many years and when the store closed, she started working at K-Mart and worked there until she retired. Bessie and her family moved to Devils Lake after she retired and spent the rest of her life there.
Along with her working in Devils Lake and taking care of a huge garden, she was a 40 year member of the Rebekah Lodge #9 in Devils Lake working her way up to Noble Grand and presently was a Past Noble Grand.
She loved spending time with her family and friends and loved to laugh and have fun. Bessie was very accomplished at crocheting and made table cloths (up to 6 ft. in diameter) and had a large collection of dolls that she had crocheted dresses for. She also had a collection of salt and pepper shakers amounting to over 300 pairs.
One if the many things that all her family and friends remembered were her homemade buns and rolls. Every function she attended she was asked to bring her buns and rolls and protected her recipe until she died.
Bessie is survived by her husband Jacob, son Owen and 2 beautiful grandchildren Shelby Lane and Brayden Jacob Penner.
Funeral Services for Bessie will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. at the Heartland Care Chapel, Devils Lake, ND. Rev. David Birkeland, Pastor of the First United Methodist Church, will officiate and burial will be in the Devils Lake Cemetery.
Visitation will be held at the Gilbertson Funeral Home, Devils Lake on Friday from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.
Serving as Casket Bearers for Bessie will be Ron Fischer, Orlin Schanz, John Lervold, Agner Lervold, Ron Poer and Raymond Kvalevog.