28 Feb Robert Frandsen
Posted at 16:41h
in Uncategorized
by staff
Robert Louis Frandsen passed away on February 24, 2024.
A funeral service will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Bismarck Funeral Home, 3723 Lockport St, Bismarck, ND.
Bob was born to Louis and Hazel Frandsen on April 26, 1927, at the family ranch in the Slim Buttes (Harding County, SD). His dad delivered him with the help of his mom’s sister Leota who lived close by. It was a cold, windy, snowy day.
He attended the Rock Ranch country school for grades 1-8 and walked the 2 miles to and from school with his siblings. Once it was just he and his younger brother Raymond, they rode horseback. He went to the Thrall Academy in Sorum, SD, for his freshman year of high school. It was 14 miles from home so he stayed in the boys dorm which was a remodeled Flour mill. The school had a band and he played the valve trombone that was loaned to him by his Uncle Ray Elliott.
The Thrall Academy closed after his freshman year so he went to Reeder High for his last 3 years of high school, graduating in 1945. The first year he stayed with relatives and the last two years he stayed at the newly opened boys dorm. During the school year he worked odd jobs and during the summer he herded sheep on the family ranch. After graduation he worked for several farmers in the Reeder area until his older brother Harry got polio and he went back to the ranch to help his dad.
Bob married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie Byers, on June 1, 1948, a few days after she graduated from high school. His parents moved to Nisland, SD and he took over operating the ranch. Their son, Thomas, was born May 16, 1949. They continued to live on the ranch until the fall of 1953 when they moved to Reeder, ND where Bob began working for the Farmers Union Oil Company. Their daughter, Patricia, was born February 10, 1954.
Bob continued working at the Farmers Union Oil Company and was the manager for the last 12 years before he retired in 1994. Retirement didn’t suit him well so after about a year he got the custodian job at the Adams County Courthouse in Hettinger, ND. About a year later Margie quit her job and worked beside him until they both retired for good in 2016. He was 89 and had hoped to work until he was 90! He said it was the best job he ever had.
Bob loved his family, woodworking, carpentry, playing cards and was an avid reader of western novels.
Survivors who have shared his life are his devoted wife, Margie, son Tom, Mesa AZ, daughter Pat and Mike Carroll, Bismarck ND, grandsons Chris and Jennifer Frandsen, Southlake TX and Robert and Suzanne Carroll, Fargo ND, granddaughters Jennifer and Eddie Kesner, Mesa AZ and Michelle Gayette, Mandan ND and 10 great grandchildren – Caleb and Kaya Gayette, Andrew and Kate Frandsen, Lauren Davenport and Lily, Molly, Olivia, Abby and Chloe Kesner.
Preceding him in death are his parents, 8 brothers and sisters and daughter-in-law Fae.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be sent to the Reeder Cemetery Association, POC: Heidi Mellman, 801 14th St NW, Reeder, ND 58649.
