Ethel Caroline (Kemmer) Cramer

Ethel C. Cramer, age 92, passed away on May 9, 2019 at Maryhill Manor.  She was born March 3, 1927 on a farm near Alice, North Dakota, to Lester and Winifred Kemmer.

Ethel attended elementary school in Alice, ND and high school in Enderlin, ND.  She had various occupations in Enderlin including managing Tri-County Lanes, and working at Hal’s Red Owl, Mitch’s Jack & Jill, and as the lunch ticket lady at Enderlin Public Schools.

Ethel married James Cramer on May 11, 1946.  She loved to sing and got married in between auditioning and winning the opportunity to sing on KOVC as “The Dakota Kid” for half hour programs that summer.  Ethel and Jim raised six girls and there was always music playing in our house, whether it was country music or Gwen playing piano and us girls singing.  She also loved to garden and raised many bountiful gardens with Dad.  Mom enjoyed sewing and patched coveralls and jeans for many throughout the years.  She also made countless tie quilts with Grandma Winnie.  Children and grandchildren remember playing in quilt tents hanging from the clothesline.  They also remember her cookie jars always being full.  Her grandchildren remember many hours of coloring with Grandma. 

Mom was an avid Twin’s baseball fan and when you called home in the summertime, you could often hear a ball game in the background.  Mom also played women’s softball well into her 50’s.  She enjoyed fishing, and she and Dad took us girls and Grandma and Grandpa Kemmer fishing at Lake Ashtabula on many summer Sundays.  She had a big heart for animals and we always had a pet or two.  In later years her Dachshunds, Jock and Rusty, were very special to her. 

Ethel’s faith was strong and she was a longtime member of the First United Methodist Church.

Ethel is survived by six daughters, Margie (Jim) Hansen of Lakeville, MN, Laurie Stabnow of Absarokee, MT, Lynette (Joe) Schmitz of Enderlin, Gwen (Andy) Sveet of Valley City, ND, Cindy McCleod of Arvada, CO, Robin (Jarrell) Schock of Fort Peck, MT; a sister, Virginia Grindahl of Maple Grove, MN; 14 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren; sister-in-law, Eleanor Kemmer of Enderlin, ND and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, James Cramer; her father and mother, Lester and Winifred Kemmer; her brothers, Harvey, Duane, and Hal, and her sons-in-law Clayton Stabnow and Kim McLeod.

Special thanks to the staff of Maryhill Manor for their loving care of our Mom. 

Interment: Salem Cemetery, rural Enderlin, ND

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