Fae Rieger

Fae Rieger

Fae Rieger, 91, of Wishek, North Dakota, died peacefully in her sleep the morning of Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. She is in heaven with her mother, sister and brothers.

Fae Duryee Neubauer was born Sept. 8, 1934, in Bismarck, North Dakota. She was the youngest daughter of Harry James and Gertrude Lea (Keller) Neubauer. She was just a baby in her mother's arms when they were in a car accident that left her mother injured. Her mother never fully recovered, and she died when Fae was 7. They lived in a one-room log cabin south of Bismarck.

The family moved into the city, then to Seattle, Washington, then back to Bismarck. Her father remarried and changed their last name to Burke, which was his birth name before he was adopted.

She graduated from Bismarck High School in 1952, Bismarck Junior College in 1954 and earned her lifetime teaching certificate and BS degree at Valley City State College. She taught grades 1-8 in a one-room country schoolhouse in 1955 in the Fort Rice School District south of Bismarck, grades 6-8 (including music and basketball) at Driscoll from 1956-60, grade 6 in Napoleon in 1960.

She met the love of her life, Roger Rieger, in the summer of 1960 at Valley City State University. They married on Dec. 22, 1962, at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Zeeland, North Dakota, near Roger's childhood home. She taught grade 8 English in Rugby from 1961-63. They taught school in Kenmare from 1963-65, in Corunna, Michigan, in 1965; and in Garrison from 1966-69. They ran a resort on Lake Ashtabula in the summers for seven years beginning in 1966.

Their first child, Jamison Fred, was born in 1969. They moved to Belcourt, where she taught grades 3-4 and was the librarian at St. Anne's while Roger was the art teacher at Belcourt High. Daughters Anjanette Fae and Cassandra Lynn were born in 1970 and 1972. They moved to Rolette in 1975 and Finley in 1987. She taught the sixth grade at Finley-Sharon High School from 1987-1994. There they hosted three foreign exchange students, Ines Montserrat Cordova Cabrera and her sister Paulina of Quito, Ecuador, and Hernan Francisco Ramirez Reyes of Chiapas, Mexico. They moved to Bismarck when Roger became the assistant director of secondary education at the State Capitol. She was the librarian at Fort Yates' Standing Rock High School from 1994 to 1998, when she retired at age 64. They lived in Menoken from 2002 to 2009 before moving to Wishek. They spent winters in Lake Havasu, Arizona, and with their children in Minnesota, California and Connecticut.

She loved riding motorcycles, open spaces and the North Dakota sky. Working in her flower garden made her happy.

She is survived by her husband, Roger; son Jamison; daughters Anjanette (Joey) Delgado and Cassandra; granddaughters Nicole (Lexi) Rieger-Erwin, Jessica (Garrison) Lord Rieger, Anika and Alivia Thomasson; her brother Lyman "Butch" Neubauer, and dozens of nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her mother, father, sister Eileen Beecher, and brothers James, Carroll and Stanley Neubauer.

Fae loved God but not funerals. A celebration of her life will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, at the Big Screen, 12 N 5th St, Wishek. All are welcome.

Donations can be made in her name to Habitat for Humanity or the Ronald McDonald House.

Memories and condolences may be shared online at www.feistfuneralhome.com. Arrangements have been entrusted to Feist Funeral Home of Wishek, Napoleon, and Kulm, ND.