Eloise Ogden, left, editor, Jill Schramm, right, associate editor.

The North Dakota State Parade Committee has selected North Dakota journalists Eloise Ogden and Jill Schramm as the grand marshals of the 2024 North Dakota State Parade.

The 42nd parade, with the theme, Xtra! Xtra! North Dakota News!, will be Saturday, July 20.

Ogden is editor and Schramm is associate editor of The Minot Daily News. They also oversee the editorial side of The Pierce County Tribune in Rugby.

“The North Dakota State Parade and the North Dakota State Fair are important events to bring together people from all across our state, Canada and other states to our community, Minot. I am honored and feel privileged to be asked to serve as grand marshal of the parade,” said Ogden.

“Having enjoyed watching – and even once, walking – in the North Dakota State Parade, it is a pleasure to be given this opportunity to serve as grand marshal and be part of this great event,” Schramm said. “I look forward to representing the news industry, and print journalism in particular, in the 2024 parade.”

A native of North Dakota, Ogden was born in Minot and grew up at Ryder in southwest Ward County, where her family farmed, raising cattle and grains. Her grandfather homesteaded on a portion of the same land that she now owns.

A graduate of Ryder High School and North Dakota State University, she also attended classes at Dickinson State and Minot State. Initially a music major, she became interested in writing and reporting while on the staffs of the college newspapers at Dickinson State and NDSU.

Ogden has moved through the ranks of the newspaper from reporter (staff writer) to regional editor and now editor.

“My teachers were among North Dakota newspaper greats – Hal Davies, Ray Dobson, Bob Cory, Jack Bone, Carl O. Flagstad and others at The Minot Daily News who instilled in us to get all the facts, get them right and get the stories to the readers,” she wrote for a story about why she has stayed in North Dakota, published in the North Dakota Blue Book.

Ogden and Schramm said newspapers are the backbone of local communities and their region, and those who provide the news for community newspapers attain knowledge in public information, history, government, agriculture, business, sports and many other topics.

Their work has given them the opportunity to meet and visit with many different people in the region, state and beyond the borders, and tell their stories.

Ogden’s coverage of news has included the U.S. military, particularly Minot Air Force Base (where she’s also lived), North Dakota National Guard and veterans, tribal government, N.D. oil and gas development, aviation, social services, crimes and courts, weather and floods, and many other subjects.

“I’ve had many exciting adventures that I might not have had at a newspaper in a more populated city or state, like flying in a Minot Air Force Base B-52 bomber or making an arrest land and takeoff on the Navy’s USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier while at sea,” she also wrote for the N.D. Blue Book.

She has researched and written numerous historical articles from throughout the area and compiled stories and photos for historical books and magazines, including about Minot AFB, Roosevelt Park Zoo and Historic Homesteads, designed by Mandy Taniguchi, publication design editor, and published by The Minot Daily News.

She is a member of North Dakota Professional Communicators, Minot Area Chamber EDC’s Military Affairs Committee, Dakota Territory Air Museum and is a North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame trustee.

Schramm grew up on a grain and dairy farm near Cathay, graduating from Cathay High School and the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks with a degree in journalism. She worked for the student newspaper, interned in New Rockford and Williston and did freelance writing for various weeklies while in college, joining Borlaug Publishing, later BHG Inc., in Washburn as a reporter after graduation. She also served as editor of The Underwood News for a time.

In 1986, she came to The Minot Daily News, where she has covered numerous topics and issues, with government and health as her primary areas of focus over the years. She covered the North Dakota Legislature from Bismarck for The News from 1987-1993. Previously promoted to senior reporter, she was named associate editor in 2022.

Schramm also has been active in her community and church, serving on boards of the former YWCA and American Red Cross chapter and as Des Lacs Township clerk/treasurer. She has held various positions, including president, with North Dakota Professional Communicators and currently serves as the organization’s Northwest District director and president of its affiliate, Minot Area Professional Communicators. She was named NDPC’s Communicator of Achievement in 2007.

Ogden and Schramm have won numerous state and national writing and photography awards and have been recognized by various other state and local organizations.

Eloise and her husband, Bernie Pellenwessel, a retired Realtor, live in Minot. Their immediate family, all of Minot, includes Mike and Lori Pellenwessel, David, Cali and Addi Pellenwessel, Nathan Pellenwessel and his fiancee Chloe Watterud, and Katie Pellenwessel.

Jill and her husband, Craig McCormack, of rural Des Lacs, have two daughters and two granddaughters.