Violet Burgess

Rugby

Violet “Vi” Jean Burgess, 78, formerly of Rugby, died at her son’s home in Douglas, North Dakota on December 4, 2023. Vi was born in Devils Lake on January 5, 1945 to Thorvald and Agnes (Risovi) Erickson and raised in the Maddock area. She graduated from Benson County Agricultural and Training School in Maddock in 1963. Vi graduated from the LPN program at Lake Region Junior College in Devils Lake. For a time she worked at the High Acres Manor in Jamestown and the Maddock Hospital. She married LeRoy Burgess on June 6, 1965 in Maddock. She and her husband moved to Rugby in 1978 where she was employed at the Good Samaritan Hospital and the Harold S. Haaland Home until her retirement in 2003. She moved to Douglas to live with her son in 2021.

She had been an active crew member of the Maddock Ambulance Squad in addition to working with Special Olympics in the area. Vi was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church in Rugby until it closed in 2019, American Legion Auxiliary in Maddock, and the Rugby Eagles Auxiliary.

She was a very active bowler for many years and enjoyed sewing, playing bingo, going camping and fishing, and cooking for her family.

She is survived by their children, Vicki and her husband Aloysius Klein – Beulah, and Tony and his wife, Adell Burgess – Douglas. She also leaves a brother, David Erickson – Skappoose, Oregon, and sisters Margaret Rierson – Oregon City, Oregon, and Carol Bitz – Anacortes Island, Oregon. In addition she leaves 4 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband on October 18, 2000, her parents and a sister Mavis Ambers.

A funeral service will be held on Monday, December 11th at 10:00 A.M. at First Lutheran Church in Rugby. Burial will take place at the North Viking Cemetery at Maddock at 1:30 P.M.

Friends may call at the Niewoehner Funeral Home in Rugby on Sunday, December 10th from 4-7 PM and an hour before the service at the church.

www.niewoehnerfh.com

Published by The Minot Daily News, December 8, 2023.