Rebecca M Quanrud

Rebecca M. Quanrud died Nov. 11, 2015, at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck. Services will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, Dec. 7, at St. George’s Episcopal Memorial Church with the Rev. Canon James Zotalis and the Rev. Canon Zanne Ness officiating. Interment will be in the church columbarium. Rebecca Lee McDuff was born May 24, 1923, in Vicksburg, MS, to William F. and Laura Evelyn (Roberts) McDuff. She attended Vicksburg schools and graduated from high school in New Orleans in 1939. She married 1st Lt. William Pilgrim on Aug. 24, 1942 at Camp Stoneman, CA. After his death in action in 1944, she returned to Mississippi, where she worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At a friend’s invitation, she moved to Bismarck in 1945, where she worked for the Association of Commerce before marrying Theodore S. Quanrud in 1947. Mrs. Quanrud served as chief stenographer for the North Dakota Senate in the 1957, 1959 and 1961 sessions. A gifted parodist, she wrote the many of the scripts for the “mock sessions” during that time. Her 21-year career with the North Dakota court system began in 1962, when she was secretary of Supreme Court Justice Ralph Erickstad. Later she was court reporter for the South Central Judicial District, serving District Judges W. C. Lynch, Alfred Thompson and Gerald G. Glaser. After retiring, she volunteered for more than 20 years in the cataloging section of Veterans Memorial Library. Her interests – embroidery, birdwatching, reading and cooking – were reflected in memberships in Monday Club, the Bismarck Audubon Society, the American Birding Association, the Nature Conservancy, the Prairie Textile Arts Guild, the Houston (TX) Embroidery Guild, the Lewis and Clark Food Explorers and Dakota Zoo. She was a 70-year member of St. George’s Episcopal Church. Memorials are preferred to St. George’s. She leaves two sons: Theodore W., Bismarck, and Dr. John R., Nampa, ID; Audrey M. Quanrud; two granddaughters, Catherine L. Quanrud, Stuart, FL, and Julia Quanrud, Minneapolis, MN; a grandson, Sr. Airman John C. (Jack) Quanrud, Navarre, FL, and a sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and Truman (Pete) Guttery, Austin, TX. She also leaves many much-cherished friends. Her family thanks the staff of Edgewood Vista and her medical care providers for making her last years comfortable.