Phyllis Quick

Sadness filled our hearts on New Year’s Day yet now we rejoice as our mother and grandmother begins her new life in heaven. It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of Phyllis Quick on January 1, 2015 surrounded by her family and under the care of Hospice at the Griggs County Nursing Home in Cooperstown, ND Phyllis Elaine Tharaldson was born on August 27, 1927 at her parents’ farm home in Laketown Township northwest of Dazey, ND. She was the fifth of nine children born to Emil and Emma (Christenson) Tharaldson. She loved telling of her childhood days, schoolmates and neighbors, herding cattle and working summers to earn money to board in town during her high school days. She loved learning, reading and often would recite poetry committed to memory years before. Phyllis was a lifelong member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church of Dazey where she was baptized and confirmed. In 1945, while a senior in high school she tested and later accepted employment at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. She worked five years as a clerk/stenographer in the chaplains’ office. She always said she was “green as grass” upon going there but learned to enjoy her work and the history of her surroundings. On a visit home to North Dakota she met Edmund Quick and they would be married on July 14, 1951 at Moorhead, MN. She soon became “Auntie Phyllis” to her husband’s nieces and nephews, some she had even gone to school with. Soon after they purchased the Jaeger house in Dazey and here they raised their family of four children. She would remain here until entering the nursing home in April 2014. They farmed for several years and were actively involved in the activities of their small town and proud of their small town heritage. Phyllis also worked for twenty-five years with the US Postal Service as a clerk, officer-in-charge and retired as postmaster at Rogers, ND. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary for over sixty years and cherished the Memorial Day and Labor Day events. She served as Sunday School secretary and council member and numerous years as city auditor. She maintained a daily ritual of reading the Valley City Times-Record, the Fargo Forum and doing the crossword puzzle. Phyllis loved to tell a good story, crochet, work puzzles, play cards, watch the birds in her yard and have coffee with Dorothy. The many activities of her children and grandchildren were always a priority. Her grandchildren will remember learning to tap dance on the kitchen floor as well as to sing “Playmate” and “A Bushel and a Peck” and watching Shirley Temple movies. After her mother’s passing Phyllis welcomed the opportunity to host the many family gatherings. She enjoyed people sitting around the kitchen table where they could laugh and share a meal Phyllis is survived by her children, Jerry and Carol Tharaldson of Detroit Lakes, MN, Philip of Dazey, Wayne of Catonsville, MD, and Dorene and John Heinze of Cooperstown, ND; her grandchildren, Brent Tharaldson of Detroit Lakes, Kristen Tharaldson of Minneapolis, Jenae and Thomas Mills of Carrboro, NC, Ryan and Angela Tharaldson of Minneapolis, Michelle and Kelly Hanson, Hannaford, ND, Jodi and Troy Larson of LaMoure, ND and Emmy and Seth Elston of Edgeley, ND; her great-grandchildren Lucy and Atticus Mills, Rory and Parker Tharaldson, Alissa and Shaun Perkins, Justin, Teylor and Landon Hanson, Brenna and Brylee Larson and Haley and Paige Elston. She is also survived by her brother James and Carol Tharaldson of Tyrone, PA; sisters-in-law, Annie Tharaldson of Valley City ,Geri Tharaldson of New Brighton, MN, and Doris Tharaldson of Portland, OR; a brother-in-law, Jim Dahl of Valley City; and several nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death were her parents, her son Eddie (in 1959), her husband Ed (in 2008) and her siblings, Howard, Russel, Morris, Gordon, Marilyn Dahl, Robert and Richard. The family will be forever grateful to the loving and dedicated care givers at the Griggs County Medical Center and Nursing Home. Phyllis lovingly referred to them as her angels on earth. A prayer service will be held Monday, January 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm at the Oliver-Nathan Funeral Chapel in Valley City. The funeral service will be Tuesday, January 6 at 11:00 am at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Dazey. Burial will follow at the Our Saviour’s Cemetery. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Oliver-Nathan Funeral Chapel, Valley City, ND. Please visit www.oliver-nathanchapel to sign Phyllis’ online guestbook and share a memory with the family.

Phyllis Quick

August 27, 1927 - January 1, 2015