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Margaret Mary Louise Schwenke • 1917 - 2010 Margaret Mary Louise was born November 28, 1917 to Carl and Mary Oral (Williams) Schmidt at Bismarck, North Dakota. Except for brief periods spent at Orange, California and Livingston, Montana as a young child, Margaret grew up in the Ruso and Kongsberg, North Dakota communities. She was baptized, confirmed, and married in St. John's Lutheran Church Missouri Synod at Kongsberg, North Dakota where she was taught Sunday School from 1934-1957. Margaret was a bookworm. Despite a limited formal education, she taught herself many skills and developed her knowledge through hours of study. She was hired to teach in the Otis Township School for the 1946 through 1948 academic terms. Margaret and Ralph LaRoy Schwenke were married on June 15, 1948 and initially made their home on the Davis place near Kongsberg before moving to the Carl Schmidt ranch continuing to maintain their farming operation. In 1957, Margaret and Ralph moved to Minot, North Dakota where Ralph worked as a police officer for 21 years. Ralph died on June 11, 1989 and was buried on their 41st wedding anniversary. While in Minot, Margaret and Ralph were members of St. Mark's Lutheran Church Missouri Synod where Margaret taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and the lessons for the Dorcas Circle. As a member of the Dorcas Circle, she enjoyed making quilts, making bandages, and sewing hospital gowns. The Schwenke Family left St. Mark's Lutheran Church in 1973 over doctrinal disagreements within the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod regarding the inerrancy of the Bible and joined with other believers to start Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Evangelical Lutheran (ELS) and Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synods (WELS). Messiah did not grow and the congregation disbanded in 1981. Ralph and Margaret attended church with the WELS congregations in Bismarck and Mandan until Ralph's death in 1989. Margaret then worshipped with the St. Peter's congregation in Sawyer, North Dakota until the WELS congregations in Bismarck and Mandan began serving a mission post at the Minot Air Force Base in 1993. She continued to worship with this mission until a local congregation was formed in 1997 and incorporated as Grace Lutheran Church. Margaret worshipped with the Grace congregation until her peaceful death on December 11. She was served in her last days by Pastor Arie Bertsch from St. Paul's Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in Minot with whom she shared doctrinal agreement. Margaret loved horses and spent many hours of her life riding for work or for pleasure. She was a member of the Sawyer Senior Citizens where she enjoyed working on crossword puzzles. Most of all, Margaret loved her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and tried to live her life as a testimony to her thankfulness for His gift of eternal life which she now enjoys. Margaret and Ralph had three children: Carolyn Ruth (Eugene Lynus) DeLorme, Manvel, North Dakota; Martin Laroy (Ellen Bierschenk), Warrenton, Virginia, and Erick Ralph of Minot, 5 grandchildren, three great grandsons and a sister, Ruth Lindlauf, Velva, ND. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ralph; her parents; and three brothers. Funeral: Friday, December 17, 2010, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Minot.
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Margaret Mary Louise Schwenke, 93, Minot, ND, passed away Saturday, December 11, 2010, in a Minot hospital.