DUANE S. TWEETEN

Duane S. "Dewey" Tweeten, 88, Devils Lake, North Dakota, died Sunday in Good Samaritan Center. Funeral Services for Dewey will be held on Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. at St. Olaf Lutheran Church, Devils Lake with Reverend Jeff Nicla officiating. Burial will be in the Devils Lake Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the church one hour prior to the funeral service. Duane Sanford was born July 13, 1926 in Devils Lake, ND to Ted and Lena (Helland) Tweeten of Lakota, ND where he was reared and educated. He was the 2nd youngest of twelve children born to Ted and Lena. In 1941, the family moved to Devils Lake and Dewey worked for Ferris Grocery until November 14, 1944 when he entered the United States Army serving in the Occupation Army in the European African Middle Eastern Theater after World War II ended. He was honorably discharged on August 17, 1946 with the rank of TEC 5. Dewey returned home and married his sweetheart June Chapman, whom he met at a school house dance in Bartlett, ND. They were united in marriage at the St. Olaf Parsonage on August 30, 1946 and made Devils Lake their home their entire married life. Dewey worked for 4 years at Lake Grocery (Nash Finch) and then on January 2, 1951 he began working for the Devils Lake Post Office where he worked for 33 years, retiring in 1984. Most of his years were as the City Carrier and that was a 12 mile daily route. After he retired from the Post Office, he bought his first pick-up truck and started doing handyman work and painting for some of his mail patrons and eventually all over town for the next 10 years. Taking care of his mail route patrons was nothing new for Dewey, as he helped many of his elderly patrons, bringing them stamps when needed and always making sure they were up and around and doing ok on his daily route. His extra care and concern was always greatly appreciated. He received special recognition from the US Post Office for service above and beyond. Dewey’s hobbies were waterfowl hunting and wood working. At times, Dewey didn’t know there was life after hunting, but he had such a great talent at wood working. His first project was building a sled at age six. Dewey’s projects were usually practical and useable to the very appreciative recipients. Dewey gave faithful service to his country, his church and his family throughout these many years and he will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him. Dewey is survived by his wife, June of 68 years; daughter Janet Tweeten, Devils Lake son Michael (Jane) Tweeten of Pocatello, Idaho; granddaughters Jennifer (Dirk) Redfern, Hailey, ID and Sara Tweeten, Boise, ID; great granddaughter Caitlyn Redfern; brother-in-law Mel Richards, Moorhead, MN; sister-in-law Sally Chapman, Fargo, ND and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded by his parents, all of his 11 siblings and father-in-law and mother-in-law Bill and Mable Chapman.