Gladys Diede

Gladys Mae Diede, 88, Bismarck, passed away on February 23, 2020, of congestive heart failure. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 29, at Faith Community Church, Wishek.

Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck. A prayer service will begin at 7:00 p.m.

She was born in Driscoll on June 23, 1931 to Haral and Pricilla (Olauson) Christianson.

After graduating the 8th grade from a rural school north of Driscoll, Gladys worked in Bismarck at the Sweet Shop and was a nanny to several families in the winter. In the spring she returned to her family farm to help with the lambing. 

She was married to Leonard Diede on November 3, 1957. She then moved to the family farm south of Wishek, where they raised cattle, sheep and grain. Every spring she was busy seeding the field on her own Case tractor. In the summer she made hay and had a large garden. In the fall she harvested and packed corn for silage and canned from her garden. In the winter they went ice fishing with Art and Alice Ketterling. 

Gladys and Leonard were blessed with two daughters, Judy Mae and JoAnn Louise. She continued to farm with Leonard until he became ill with ALS. Leonard passed away in 1990 and Gladys moved to Bismarck. She was a member of The Sons of Norway, two Bunko groups, Homemakers, and Sunday Singles. She enjoyed shopping, going out to eat, embroidery, sewing and working in her yard. She loved to travel to other states on bus trips with her friends and spend time with her family.

She survived by her two daughters Judy Wilkie and JoAnn Hepsley; her son-in-law Dick Wilkie; two granddaughters, Heather Hepsley and Danielle Zimmerman; and four great- grandchildren, Natalie Gilmore (13), Preston (9), Kendra (2), and Mason (8 mo) Zimmerman.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Leonard; her parents, Haral and Pricilla (Olauson) Christianson; and her sisters, Marian Swenning and Ruby Christianson.