Patty Pretzer

St. Louis Park, Minn

Patty Pretzer, 79, St. Louis Park, Minn, formerly of Minot, died Monday, Aug. 4, 2025, in a St. Louis Park, Minn hospital.

Patty was born December 29, 1945, in Minot to John and Alice Seright (Kramer). She lived with her parents, paternal grandparents and siblings on a ranch outside of Granville and she graduated from Granville High School in 1963.

Patty worked at Trinity hospital where she met her husband Arlo Pretzer. She also worked at Norwest Bank in Minot. She stopped working for a short time to be with her school-age daughter and start up a passion project- The Country Greenhouse. She and her family ran the greenhouse out of their backyard for several years.

A majority of Patty’s career was spent working at Town and Country Credit Union. She worked there for 30 years and retired in 2012 as the Vice President of Marketing. Patty loved her job and many of her co-workers became close friends. During her time at TCCU she most enjoyed coordinating events and planning and escorting groups of seniors on trips around the country.

After her retirement, Patty spent several years working for the Special Olympics of North Dakota as a Regional Director. She absolutely loved working and traveling with the athletes and planning special fundraisers like Dancing with the Special Stars. More than anything she enjoyed watching “her” athletes compete and succeed with her lifelong best friend Juell Brabandt by her side. The two of them made trips all over North Dakota and beyond. They continued their travels together to beaches and resorts all over the world up until her death.

Giving back and helping others was a big part of Patty’s life. She enjoyed being an active community member, by serving on volunteer boards, committees and with a multitude of groups and organizations. Amongst many other things, she organized toy and food drives during the holidays and volunteered with Special Olympics. She was also a member of Bethany Lutheran Church and sang in their choir.

The most important thing in Patty’s life was her family. She enjoyed nothing more than hosting gatherings at her house. She especially loved to fill her house with family for Christmas and her backyard pool for Independence Day. She was a master hostess who would spend days preparing food and activities and scrubbing every inch of her house so it could be completely taken over by soaking wet kids in swimsuits and piles of Christmas gifts.

Aunty Pat, as she was lovingly called, thrived in this role and loved all her nieces and nephews. In 1995 one of her greatest gifts was born, her niece Alice Kephart (Gullekson). And soon after Alice’s sisters Clare, Anne, and Rose added to the size of that gift. She loved the Gullekson Girls. She attended every special event and everyday activity with them that she could.

Pat received another big gift in 2011 when her granddaughter Willow was born. She absolutely adored her “tiny girl” so much so that she moved to Minnesota in 2017 so she could be a part of everything Willow did. Willow had her own room at Grandmas and stayed with her often. One of her favorite things was to go to Willow’s hockey games and cheer her on. She froze in hockey rinks all over the Midwest.

Patty married Arlo Pretzer in 1973. They were married until his passing in 2015. They had one daughter together, Nicki. This marriage brought three bonus children into Patty’s life as well: Rhonda, Karen, and James.

Patty’s family includes children, Karen (Darryl) Wesloh, Minneapolis, MN, Jim Pretzer, Bismarck and Nicki (Aaron Goedtke) Pretzer, St Louis Park, MN; grandchildren, Dana (Lisa) Hartleib, Ricky (Jenny) Hartleib, Justin (Alisa) Hartleib, and Willow Goedtke; great grandchildren Maverick, Weston and Gavin Hartleib, Kaden Herrington, Piper and Rylan Hartleib; siblings Cathy (Jim) Bailey, Danny (Deb) Seright, Jeanne (Justin) Gullekson, Mike (Donna) Seright, and Steve (Teresa) Seright and numerous nieces, nephews and many close friends and relatives.

Pat was preceded in death by her parents John and Alice Seright, her sister Mona Kunkel, her husband Arlo Pretzer, and her daughter Rhonda Willenbring.

Celebration of Patty’s Life: 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 at Bethany Lutheran Church with visitation one hour prior to the start of the service at the church.

Interment will be at the Granville Cemetery in Granville.

(Arrangements entrusted with Thomas Family Funeral Home, Minot.)

Published by The Minot Daily News, August 7, 2025.