Deacon Edwin A Wesolowski

Deacon Edwin A. Wesolowski, 75, passed away on March 24, 2014, at St. Vincent's Care Center, Bismarck. Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 29, at Church of Saint Anne, Bismarck. Burial will be at St. Mary's Cemetery, Bismarck. Visitation will be held Friday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at St. Vincent's Care Center and from 3:30 to 8 p.m. at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Parkway, Bismarck, where a vigil/KC rosary will begin at 7 p.m. Ed was born March 27, 1938, in Grand Forks, the son of Edwin and Catherine Ebertowski Wesolowski of Warsaw. At age 5, his mother died so he spent much of his time on a farm near Warsaw with his maternal grandparents, John and Martha Ebertowski. After his father remarried, he moved to Grand Forks to live with his father and stepmother, but still continued to spend each summer on the farm with his grandparents. In the eighth grade, he went to live with his grandparents throughout the whole year and he began attending a local country school. The country school teacher inspired him to continue his education so he and his brother began attending high school in Oslo, Minn. In 1956, after graduating from high school in Oslo, he attended one semester at University of North Dakota. In February 1957, he volunteered to serve in the Army. He was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany and worked with classified information as a clerk typist for two years. He returned to the United States in February 1959 and remained on active reserve until his honorable discharge in July 1963. After returning from his tour of duty in Germany, Ed worked at a variety of jobs while trying to save up enough money to go back to school. In February 1962, he married Joy Korynta of Ardoch and began attending college at UND in Grand Forks. They lived in university housing, where three of their children were born. To help make ends meet, Ed worked at Colbourn School Supply and his wife, Joy, did child care in their home. In August 1966, he graduated from UND with a bachelor of philosophy degree with a major in natural science and a minor in social science. After a year of graduate school pursing a master's degree in science with a major in geology, he was hired by the U.S. Geological Survey in Bismarck as a hydrologist. His fourth child was born in 1968. Ed worked at the USGS as a water quality specialist until 1975, when he was hired by the Bureau of Reclamation to work on the Garrison Diversion Project. When the project ran out of funding, he returned to the USGS in 1981 as a supervisory hydrologist of the N.D. District Basic Data field office. This position included working on interpretive studies and he published several reports. He retired from the USGS in December 2000. As a member of Flickertail and the Gospel Gabbers Toastmasters he became an accomplished speaker. He was also a Fourth Degree Knight in the Knights of Columbus fraternal organization. Ed was very active at the Catholic Church of Saint Anne, serving as a lector and eucharistic minister for many years. He was involved with many Diocesan programs including pre-marriage preparation, baptismal classes and Bible studies. After three years of formation, Ed was ordained a deacon in 1999 at the Church of St. Leo in Minot. He served as a deacon at the Church of Saint Anne for two years and then was moved to Ascension, where he served until August 2006. For the following two years, he served at the church of Saint Mary's. Ed was a handy man, preferring to take on the toughest jobs rather than pay someone else to do them. If he didn't know how to do something, he bought a book that would show him how. He was truly a self-made man. Ed is survived by his wife, Joy; four children, Robynn Berger John, Bismarck, Bonny Senger Dennis, Bismarck, Steve Shelley, Hanover, Minn., and Tom Kim, Maplewood, Minn.; his grandchildren, Michael, Alaina and Kaylee Berger, Bismarck, Jami Town, Kansas City, Kan., Jorden and Jace Senger, Bismarck, Jacob, Maplewood, and Rachel and Ashley, Hanover; one brother, John Wesolowski Lorraine, Kindred; and one half-sister, Karen Schields, Gilmer, Texas. Ed was preceded in death by his parents, Edwin and Catherine Wesolowski; and a half-sister, Susanne Schoonover. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Diocese of Bismarck Deaconate Formation Program, P.O. Box 1137, Bismarck, N.D. 58502-1137.

Deacon Edwin A Wesolowski

March 27, 1938 - March 24, 2014