Myrtrice Dilland

Myrtrice Dilland, 93, of Tioga, N.D., died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, at Tioga Long Term Care. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, at Trinity Lutheran Church, south of Tioga. Pastor Sandra Anderson will officiate and interment will be held in the church cemetery. Friends may sign the online register book and give their condolences at (www.fulkersons.com).

Myrtrice Pauline (Wolla) Dilland was born Feb. 6, 1916, on the family farm south of Tioga, N.D., the daughter of John and Ida (Knutson) Wolla.

She was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith. She attended Wolla School in West Bank Township and the Tioga High School. Following graduation from Minot State College, she taught several years in the Wolla, Nylander and Stewart rural schools.

On June 7, 1939, she was united in marriage to Palmer Dilland in her parents' home. During the early 1940s they lived out of state in a trailer home while Palmer worked on road construction. In 1944, Palmer and Myrtrice moved back to Tioga to run the Jones Dairy. One year later they purchased and moved to the Carl Wolla farm south of Tioga where they raised their four children.

Myrtrice was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, south of Tioga, where she served as a Sunday school teacher and in missions for the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Along with members of Trinity's quilting group she helped create hundreds of quilts for missions. She also took time to make treasured gifts of quilts for her family. In later years Myrtrice was also a member of the Tioga Senior Citizens and the Tioga Sons of Norway.

Besides quilting Myrtrice enjoyed sewing, gardening and working on photo albums of family and senior citizen trips. To honor her ancestry she created and maintained a family heritage album.

She loved the country where she enjoyed her walks and rides with Palmer and her family. While Myrtrice devoted her life to serving and caring for her family, she was her family's treasure. Over the years she opened her home to many family gatherings and always provided homemade favorites such as buns, lefse, krumkake and spritz.

Palmer and Myrtrice moved into the Tioga Independent Living in 1998. In 2002 they shared a room together in the Tioga Long Term Care until Palmer's passing in 2008. The devotion of their marriage lasted 69 years.

She is survived by: three sons, Gary (Sandi), John (Barbara), Ray (Connie); and daughter, Joyce (Marlow Nelson); eight grandchildren, Erik (Katy) Dilland, Steven (Samantha) Dilland, David (Angela) Dilland, Paul (Malinda) Nelson, Mark (Raquel) Nelson, Aaron (Lisa) Nelson, Lori (Mark) Petty, and Amy (Gabriel) Iverson; nine great-grandchildren; two sisters, Ada Fretland and Jeanette Mortenson; two sisters-in-law, Bernice Wolla and Olive Davidson; as well as many nieces and nephews.

Myrtrice was preceded in death by her husband, Palmer; her parents; two brothers, Arnold and Kermit; and two sisters, Delores and Evelyn.

Friends may call at the Fulkerson Funeral Home in Tioga today, Nov. 6, from noon to 6 p.m. and an hour prior to services at the church on Saturday.