Marion Hagstrom

Marion Hagstrom, 99, a resident of Edgewood Vista Assisted Living Center at 3406 Dominion Street, Bismarck, and formerly of Wilton, died April 23, 2007, at the St. Alexius Hospital. She had a stroke on April 11, 2007. Services will be held at 10:30 am Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church, Bismarck, with Rev. Steve Sathre officiating. Burial will be in Mission Evangelical Free Church Cemetery, rural Wilton. Marion Hagstrom was born on February 12, 1908, in Lein Township, north of Driscoll, the daughter of Hans and Isabelle Ambers Hanson, who had come from Minnesota to homestead there in 1907. She was baptized by the Rev. O.G. Belsheim, the first pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Bismarck, who made the trip to the Driscoll area for her baptism. She was later a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Daughters of the Reformation, and Circle 1. She attended Lein Grade School and graduated from Tuttle High School and the Ellendale Normal School. She taught in the elementary grades for nine years in the country schools in Burleigh County and in the schools in Arena, Abercrombie, and Driscoll. She took a business course at the Capital Commercial College in 1937 and worked as a secretary in Bismarck, primarily at the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. She married Oscar Hagstrom of Wilton on November 25, 1946. They farmed in Grass Lake Township and Estherville Township until 1974 when they rented out the land. In 1954, they built a home at Wilton where they spent the winters. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hagstrom were active in the National Farmers Union and the Democratic Party. Mrs. Hagstrom was also a member of the Wilton Study Club. Mr. Hagstrom passed away in 1982 after a four-year illness. Mrs. Hagstrom continued to live in Wilton until 1986 when she sold their home and moved to Bismarck. She moved to Edgewood Vista in 2002. Mrs. Hagstrom loved the farm, gardening and especially flowers, and continued to spend time at her farm home every summer. She also traveled extensively in the United States and Europe, visiting Norway, the land of her ancestors, several times with her family. In her later years, she also traveled frequently to Washington, D.C. to visit her son, Jerry Hagstrom, a writer, who survives her. On September 9, 2006, at the age of 98, she hosted a party for 150 friends and relatives at the North Dakota Heritage Center in honor of her son, Jerry, who had been named an officer, first class, in the Swedish Royal Order of the Polar Star in recognition of his contributions to Swedish civic life. In addition to her son, she is survived by many nieces and nephews and close friends including Joyce Anderson, Jeanette Spitzer, and Kathleen Jones, who were especially attentive to her in recent years. At Edgewood Vista, residents Doris Schatz, Gladys Freidig, and her tablemates were especially helpful as was the entire staff. Mrs. Hagstrom was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; and her sister, Ruth Hanson of Bismarck.

Marion Hagstrom

February 12, 1908 - April 23, 2007