Theodore "Ted" Becker

Theodore "Ted" Becker

ROSEVILLE, MN - Theodore "Ted" Joseph Becker died May 20, 2024, in Roseville Minnesota. He is survived by his daughter Carol Jean Becker (Vicci Korman, and granddaughter Lydia Jo Alvarez Becker) and daughter Corinne Danae Becker, both of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Ted's great passion was preserving the heritage of Germans from Russia. In the mid-1700's, many Germans were experiencing religious strife, political chaos, and economic hardship. In 1763, the Russian Czarina Catherine the Great promised Germans free farmland if they moved to Russia. Many accepted her offer and moved to Bessarabia and other parts of what is now Ukraine. There were subsequent waves of immigrants from Germany to Russia, colonizing land is what was Russia, but now Ukraine. As the Germans emigrated, they were often joined by Polish, Czech, Slovak, and other peoples along the way. There they thrived. The original colonies created new colonies.

During this time, they created their own unique culture and customs. But by the middle 1800's, Russia wanted to integrate the prosperous German colonies into Russia. They revoked the self-rule that the colonies had enjoyed, discouraged speaking German, and instituted conscription of German colonists into the Russian army.

Wanting to preserve their way of life, and their safety, German-Russians left Russia. Beginning in the 1870s, many immigrated to the Great Plains, where they could get free land. Others immigrated to South America, especially to Argentina and Brazil. Some remained in Ukraine. When Germany invaded during World War II, many Germans were forced to relocate back to Germany rather than remaining in Russia.

For Ted, Bessarabia and Ukraine were not only the birthplace of his grandparents Tschischmak and Harsche - this place became the purpose of his life. He developed an ambition to collect all the data he could about these people. He became a world wide known repository of information for anyone wanting to research the people of Bessarabia and Ukraine.

To preserve the heritage of these people, Ted was one of four original founders of the Heritage Foundation for Germans from Russia and served on its Board of Directors since its founding in 2001, as its Secretary/Treasurer, Vice President, and more recently as President. Its purpose is to financially support the Germans from Russia Heritage Society of Bismarck, North Dakota. He also raised $2M to build a new, larger, much-needed headquarters for the Heritage Society.

He wrote many books on the history of Germans from Russia:

A compilation of genealogical data and information of Roman Catholic Germans, Statistical Compendium of Catholic Germans in South Central North Dakota;

A translation of Homeland Book of the Bessarabian Germans;

A translation of East German Fate by the Black Sea;

An ancestral family history book Krasna, the Wellspring - Bachmeier, Harsche, Tischmak Family Chronicles;

A biography of his father, That Darn Joe;

Collaborating on Krasna, Die Geschichte eines deutschen Dorfes in Bessarabien; and, An English translation of this book - Krasna, a history of a German Village in Bessarabia.

He headed a major project for the Society digitizing its obituary collection of over 450,000 obituaries which are the heart of the Society's research library. This meant taking obituaries from small local newspapers, scanning them, and manually editing them so they would be searchable and available to anyone who wants to research their history. This work took him from 2002 to 2024. He bought copies of church records and made them available to researchers. He traveled to archives in Odessa, Ismail and Bucharest. He donated a photocopier to the archives in Ismail. He paid for transcriptions out of his own pocket so he could make this information available to the public for free.

He was editor of quarterly publication Heritage Review, later serving on its Editorial Review Board, which put out research on the Germans from Russia.

He was head of the "Krasna Project" which gathered and preserved the history and genealogy of Krasna, Akkerman, Bessarabia, Russia/Romania. This includes both a detailed history of the area as well as a photo gallery of the life in a German village which you can see at www.krasnaproject.org. He also established the Krasna Photo Collection web site - www.krasna-photo-collection.de.

In 2005, Ted travelled to Krasna, now Krasnoe, Ukraine. He spent a week there walking the streets that his maternal grandparents walked. He spent half a night in the cemetery where his maternal ancestors are buried. He was so touched by being there that he said he "physically felt" the spirits of those buried in that cemetery. He also had the good fortune of visiting the site where is paternal grandfather was born and raised. As he left the site, he felt that the spirits in the cemetery reached out to him as a flock of birds rose up and sang as one at that very moment.

Given his passion for history electronically preserving 450,000 obituaries, it's clear he wanted to leave a lot of information for future researchers. He believed obituaries are reservoirs of people's lives. Here is his history:

Ted was born was born Friday, December 2, 1938 in Mandan, North Dakota. He was baptized at Saint Philomena Catholic Church in Selfridge, North Dakota. His baptism sponsors were his uncle Joseph Kraft and his aunt Marianna "Susie" Susanna (Tischmak) Blotsky. He was confirmed in the same church. His uncle Fred Becker was his confirmation sponsor.

His paternal ancestry was found in Sulz and Landau, Beresan, Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine), and his maternal ancestry in Krasna, Akkerman, Bessarabia, Russia/Romania (now Ukraine). His father was Joe Becker (April 10, 1912 - September 3, 1985). His mother was Julianna "Julia" Tischmak (August 10, 1918 - died May 2, 2009). Both are buried in Saint Philomena Cemetery, Selfridge, North Dakota.

Ted was the eldest child in his family. He is also survived by brother Kenneth George (Dianne nee Roberson) Becker of rural Selfridge, North Dakota, and their son Patrick; brother Patrick Lee Becker and his life companion Bergetta "Getty" (Harsche) Ternes of rural Selfridge, North Dakota, and Patrick's children, Monte, Jarrod and April (David Just); brother Herbert Arnold (Victoria nee Wellito) Becker of Albuquerque, NM, and their children Karen (adopted by Herbert), Bidtah (Paul Spruhan) and Bitah's children Tazbah and Bahe, and Nanabah; and his sister Joyce Gayle (Michael - deceased Nov 23, 2013) Hinman of Bismarck, ND, and their children, Joy (Mrs. Jud Steinback) and Daniel (Amy nee Knutson) and their daughter Firth.

Buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery, Bismarck, North Dakota are his grandparents Jacob (August 18, 1889 - May 21, 1956) and Barbara (Schall) (December 20, 1894 - August 31, 1983) Becker, and Emanuel (December 4, 1889 - September 28, 1958) and Margaret (Harsche) (July 22, 1895 - August 5, 1961) Tschischmak/Tischmak, who are buried in Saint Philomena Cemetery, Selfridge, North Dakota.

Ted married Alice May Capouch on December 28, 1962, in Grand Forks, North Dakota. They divorced April 1979 in Williston, North Dakota with the marriage annulled by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota, March 27, 1986.

Ted was honored and humbled that he was accepted as a mentor and friend by Dustin Glenn Kulseth.

Special people who touched his life in positive ways were his brother Patrick, his aunt Lydia (Tischmak) Jochim, his aunt Aemilia "Emily" Mae (Tischmak) Doty Rosenbaum, his uncle Peter "Pete" Emanuel Tischmak, his uncle Fidelis Tischmak, his uncle Jack Becker, his maternal grandfather Emanuel Tischmak, his aunt Lagata (Vetter) Tischmak (Mrs. Michael Tischmak), his paternal grandmother Barbara (Schall) Becker, and special friend Linda (Tone) Medalen, friends Gladys Wirtzberger, Virgil Neiber, Mike Feheely, Clem Conlin, Donna (Kittleson) Garton, John Froehlich, Lloyd Larson, Howard Wahl, and Charlotte (Nordby) Tone (Mrs. Stanley Tone), Willibrord "Bill" Bachmeier, Richard Heinert, James Haverlock, Fr. Raymond Aydt, Paula (Neiber) Haugen Wahl, Kitty Engelstad, Adrienne Stepanek, Vance Olson, Dale and Sandra Moldenhauer.

Ted worked as a teacher, first in Rugby, North Dakota, then at Williston High School in Williston, North Dakota. He later sold insurance and then worked to preserve historic structures in North Dakota.

Burial of his cremains will be in Saint Philomena Cemetery, Selfridge, North Dakota, Lot 26, Plots 5 and 6.

We - the people who have ancestry from Bessarabia and Ukraine - can consider ourselves lucky to have the information that Ted created and preserved to help maintain our kinship links. For anyone who would like to support Ted's life work - the preservation of the heritage of the Germans from Russia - financial memorials can be donated to the "GRHS Future Growth Fund" of the Heritage Foundation for Germans from Russia, Box 7362, Bismarck, North Dakota 58507-7362. The HFGR is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation and donations may be tax-deductible.