Barbara Kottre

Barbara A Kottre, 88, Bismarck, went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, May 24, 2025. A private burial will be held at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery.

Barbara was born on June 7th, 1936, in Connecticut. She married Michael Kottre in 1973. Her role as a military wife led her to Alabama, Texas, Virginia, and settled her and her family in Bismarck, North Dakota at the end of her husband’s 20-year military career. Her husband founded K&K Electric, which he proudly said stood for Kottre and his kids. After Michael’s unexpected passing in December 1997, she took over the business and ran it for 26 years before joyfully passing the reigns to her youngest son, Jeffrey. Barbara spent many summers and weekends caring for three of her grandchildren, Danielle, Alex, and Nick. She showed them the best strategy for winning Yahtzee, schooled them in Scrabble, and suffered through way too many games of Bingo. More importantly, she allowed them to explore, helped them to learn so many things, truly listened, encouraged them in their walk with God, and prayed for them every day. She spent her final year at Missouri Slope North Campus and was very grateful for the care she received, especially from Aimee and Diane. One of her favorite things to do there was play Bingo, the game she had hated so much. She loved to win prizes to give to her great-granddaughters, Gianna, Ariella, and Zoey. It made her so happy to see their faces light up and watch them play with her winnings.

Barbara will be remembered for the lessons she taught us by the way she lived her life. She let her family see her journey through forgiveness and reminded us that holding onto past wrongs only leads to more hurt. She showed us how to push through loss, to be strong and do what needs doing to take care of those around us. She showed us how to be welcoming to everyone. At times she had so many guests around her favorite table at Barnes and Noble Café that we had to visit her in shifts. We will miss having her in our corner. We will miss her goodnight calls. We’ll miss doing puzzles together, our trivia games, and even having her tell us the hard things we need to hear. Our Barb, Ma, Nana was wonderfully, dearly loved and still is.

Barbara is survived by five sons and two daughters-in-law, Michael and Clarissa Kottre, Daniel Lackey, Jeffrey Kottre, Curtis Kottre, Raymond and Lonna Kottre; 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.