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, to Gustav and Eleanor (Calder) Geiszler on June 23, 1931. She passed away April 27, 2022, at Miller Pointe long-term care center in Mandan.

She attended school in Fargo and Minot, where she graduated from high school in 1949. She attended North Dakota State University, where she was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority and graduated in 1953. That fall, she moved to Wishek , where she took her first job as the home economics teacher at Wishek High School.

She married Wishek native Raymond Wiest at her parent's home on Aug. 1, 1954, in Minot, where her father was superintendent of the NDSU Extension Experiment Station.

Florence taught home economics intermittently while raising her family, amassing 13 years as a teacher in the Wishek school system. She later worked as a 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, at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Wishek. They continued to make their home in Wishek. 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 (now South Central Health) 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 her children: Nancy Barr, Oconomowoc, Wi., Laura (Chad) Kourajian, Bismarck, N.D., Edward (Charlotte) Wiest, Frisco, Tx., and Sarah (Shawn) Thomson, Allen, Tx., her grandchildren Stephanie (Charlie) Barr, Alexandria, Va., Shannon Barr, Madison, Wi., Allison Barr, Hartford, Wi., Ian Sweep, Sydney Sweep (Bill) Bauman and John Sweep, Bismarck; Erik Wiest, Phoenix, Az., Taylor Wiest, Dallas, Tx., Cassidy Thomson, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Calder Thomson and Camden Thomson, Allen, Tx.; two great-granddaughters, Audrilynn Krieger, Fargo, and Evelyn Barr, Alexandria, Va.  She is also survived by one sister, Margaret (Gene) Zaderaka, Max, N.D., two step-granddaughters, Alyssa (Cole) Johnson and their daughters, Adelaide, Ruby and Maeve, and Kalli (Russell) Senske and their daughter, Autumn, Bismarck, several cousins and many nieces and nephews.

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.

Memorial Video Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11xgfGlPDI7PFC5IWv2MtvoZo9TvpwLzo/view?usp=sharing