Alice L. Stranik

A funeral Mass for Alice Leona Stranik, 98, Dickinson, is 1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Dickinson, with Rev. Todd Kreitinger celebrating. Burial will be at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Dickinson.

Visitation is Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a rosary and vigil service at 7 p.m. at the Stevenson Funeral Home in Dickinson. Visitation will continue Friday from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Stevenson Funeral Home.

Alice passed away Saturday, Jan. 12, at St. Benedicts Health Center in Dickinson.

Alice Leona Marian Holt was born May 20, 1914, in Fosston, Minn., to Carl Ingvold Martinius Holt and Sophie Johanna (Oien) Holt. At the age of 2, the family moved to Dunn Center, where Alice attended elementary and high schools. She obtained her rural teaching certificate in 1932 at Dickinson Normal School.

She taught in Dunn and Stark county schools from 1933 to 1941, with a starting salary of $40 per month and ending at $60 per month, which included riding horseback in the brutal North Dakota winters to her schools.

In 1940, Alice married Robert A. Stranik at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Dickinson and spent 65 years with him before his death in 2005.

She led an extremely involved life, volunteering in numerous community organizations. Activities in her children’s lives included: Cub Scout den mother, Bluebird leader and president of the DHS Band Mothers. Community volunteering included being president of the St. Patrick’s Guild, organizing and being an officer of the St. Frances Cabrini Study Club in 1946, served as Grand Regent of the Catholic Daughter Court and as district deputy for Dickinson and Belfield, and was a substitute teacher in public and parochial schools.

Alice had a long relationship with St. Joseph’s Hospital starting in the 1950s by serving on the Board of Directors of the School of Practical Nursing. She became employed by the school from 1958 to 1972.

In 1962, she helped organize the Hospital Auxiliary and served in many of its offices. After the closing of the school, she became the hospital librarian and served as chairman and president of the North Dakota Hospital and Nursing Home Auxiliaries.

In 1979, Alice and Robert began spending half the year in California where she continued her extensive volunteer activities at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert, Calif. She was recognized for this work in 1993.

She was also honored for a lifetime of volunteerism by the North Dakota Coordinators of Volunteer Services in 2003.

She and Robert both contributed generously to the Dickinson community. Alice’s particular interests were the Dickinson Public Library and the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation.

She has recently made her home at St. Benedict’s Health Center in Dickinson.

Alice’s children have greatly benefited from her creativity, organization, sense of fun, music and helpfulness.

We will miss you, Mom.

Alice is survived by: her children, Mary Kay Sttranik (Mark Nammacher), Minneapolis, Don (Anita) Stranik, Clayton, Calif., Jerry (Suzie) Stranik, California and Arkansas, Marge (Ed) Joehnk, Walnut Creek, Calif. and JoAnn (Dennis) Hegel, Fargo; 10 grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren; a sister; Iona Ross, Dickinson, and a sister-in-law, Janet Holt-Thompkins, Bismarck.

She was preceded in death by: her parents; husband, Robert Stranik; daughter, Roberta Stranik; grandson, Christopher Joehnk; brothers; Gordon and Marven Holt; and a sister Vivian Hewish.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the St. Benedict’s Health Center or the Dickinson Public Library.

Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at www.stevensonfuneralhome.com.

Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson

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