Florence Wiest

1931 - 2022

Florence Wiest

WISHEK - Florence Wiest, 90, longtime Wishek resident, passed away April 27, 2022, at Miller Pointe long-term care center in Mandan. Her funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 30, at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Wishek, with burial on Monday, May 2, at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. A livestream of Florence's funeral service will be available at www.dahlstromfuneralservice.com under her obituary.

Florence Eleanor (Geiszler) Wiest was born in Fargo, N.D., to Gustav and Eleanor (Calder) Geiszler on June 23, 1931. She attended school in Fargo and graduated from Minot High School in 1949, and North Dakota State University, where she was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority, in 1953. She moved to Wishek that year when she took her first teaching job as the home economics teacher at Wishek High School.

She married Raymond Wiest, at her parent's home on Aug. 1, 1954, in Minot. Florence taught home economics intermittently while raising her family, amassing 13 years as a teacher in the Wishek school system. She later worked as dietary consultant and dietary services supervisor at Wishek Community Hospital, retiring in 1989.

Ray died on Jan. 15, 1987. Florence married Alvin P. Just on Feb. 12, 2000. Alvin died Jan. 31, 2016.

In her retirement, Florence was a serial quilter and knitter. Many of her hand-knitted cotton dish cloths, baby beanies and sweaters found their way into kitchen and bedroom dresser drawers around Wishek.

She was very active in the Tuesday quilting group at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, assisting in making hundreds of quilts for Lutheran World Relief for use throughout the world. Every other day of the week, she could be found bent over the Singer sewing machine she purchased in 1965, sewing fabric squares together to make quilt tops for the Tuesday group to finish and tie. That sewing machine served her well until 2020, when there were no longer parts available to repair it.

She was active in St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Wishek Community Hospital Auxiliary, the WCHC Foundation Council, and the Fred Kelle Post 87 American Legion Auxiliary, including serving as treasurer for many years well into her 80s.

Florence moved to Miller Pointe long-term care center in Mandan, N.D., to be closer to her family in late 2021. She is survived by her daughters Nancy Barr, Oconomowoc, WI, Laura (Chad) Kourajian, Bismarck, N.D., Sarah (Shawn) Thomson, Allen, TX, her son, Edward (Charlotte) Wiest, Frisco, TX, 11 grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. She is also survived by her sister, Margaret (Gene) Zaderaka, Max, N.D.

She was preceded in death by her husbands, her parents and one sister, Elaine Fischer. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials directed to the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Wishek Living Center or South Central Health Foundation. Share memories and sign online guest book at www.dahlstromfuneralservice.com. Dahlstrom Funeral Home of Wishek/Napoleon/Kulm, N.D. entrusted with arrangements.