Erna Garnant

Minot

Erna Ramona Garnant, age 81, passed away on Friday, December 5, 2025, at Edgewood Memory Care in Minot, ND. She was born on May 24, 1944, to George Roemer Garnant, Sr. and Erna Viola (Moen) Garnant in Layton Twp, McHenry County. She was baptized and confirmed at Bloomfield Lutheran, Upham, (now New Hope).

Erna attended Layton Consolidated School for six years, then Upham Public, graduating from Upham High School in 1962. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Washington state, where her godparents lived, to see what the wider world had to offer. She found employment at a candy shop, Best Western Cascadia Inn, First Interstate Bank and Wells Fargo Bank where she served as teller and worked in the Trust Department. Erna was an open-minded woman with a heart for service to others and when she encountered a deaf man making deposits at her bank, she learned sign language to communicate with him.

She enjoyed many outings with young adults at her church and supported its missionaries. Erna could draw and paint, enjoyed crafting and has always been an avid reader. She sewed her own clothes, learned pottery and meat cutting. She was instrumental in continuing and computerizing the Moen family genealogy as well as researching her other ancestral families.

When her parents’ health declined in 1986, she sold her home and left her life in Washington to come back to North Dakota to help care for them. Continuing her service to the world around her, Erna joined Upham’s American Legion Auxiliary at Earl Nermoe Post #269 and the 55+ Club. As a member of Pioneer Daughters of Towner, she served as President, Vice President, Secretary and on many committees. Of note is the committee which visited and documented unmarked cemeteries in McHenry County. She was a member of New Hope Lutheran Church and WELCA.

Erna is survived by her brother, Even R. Garnant, Bantry and twelve first cousins of the Moen family. She is preceded in death by her parents, a brother, George Garnant, Jr., and his wife Parindur.

A celebration of Erna’s life will begin at 11:00 am on Monday, December 15, 2025 at New Hope Lutheran Church, Upham, and continue at Upham’s American Legion Hall. She will be buried in the Garnant plot at Union Cemetery in Towner. Niewoehner Funeral Home, Rugby, ND www.niewoehnerfh.com

Published by The Minot Daily News, December 10, 2025.