Ardith Braaten

Ardith Marie (Wiley) Braaten passed away August 12, 2019 at Sanford Palliative Care Unit in Fargo, ND.

Ardith was born to John Wiley and Evelyn (Akre) Wiley Mason July 24, 1930 in Glasgow, Montana. The one-room schools in which her mother taught provided the foundation of her education, attending from age four through the eighth grade. She graduated from Frasier (MT) High School 1948 and from Concordia College, Moorhead (MN) in 1952 with degrees in home economics, biology, and education. She began her career as rural electrification moved through rural areas, doing food demonstrations with International Harvester refrigerators and freezers, then as an Extension home economist for Ransom County, Lisbon, ND.

In 1953 she married Boyd Braaten and became a full-time homemaker with the birth of three daughters, Carla, Dawn, and Ann. In 1964, with the girls fully launched in elementary school and Boyd busy farming, she earned her Masters’ degree in Foods and Nutrition at North Dakota State University, teaching introductory foods, meal management and other classes there until 1976. She enjoyed the camaraderie with the faculty at NDSU and relished seeing students launch successful lives and careers.

Ardith and Boyd moved their family from their farm located north of Wyndmere, ND, to Fargo, ND in December of 1965. After her retirement they returned full time to their farm, allowing her to garden, learn the Norwegian art of rosemaling, the game of bridge, and take up ballroom dancing. In 1999, they returned to north Fargo to be closer to family.

She was active in Grace Lutheran Church, Wyndmere, and Peace Lutheran Church, Fargo, most recently she was a member of the Peace archives committee. Ardith remained connected to her profession through Fargo-Moorhead Home Economists. She was a voracious reader going through stacks of books at the Fargo Public Library-Northport. She cherished her dear friends in her bridge group and at church.

Ardith is survived by her daughters Carla (Steve) Schossow, Dawn (Craig) Salsman, and Ann Braaten, her grandsons Jason (Rebecca) Chambliss, Evan Salsman, and Andrew Salsman, step-grandchildren Melissa (Bill) Fundling, Matt (Marney) Schossow, Hilary Ray and Malcolm McKenzie, her great-grandchildren Bailey, Sabrina, and Jacob Chambliss, and her beloved sisters-in-law Joyce Braaten, Bernice Koski, Clara (Rueben) Mellum, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband Boyd and her parents.

Memorials may be made to the Peace Lutheran Kitchen Fund, Gol Aal Cemetery Association, or another organization of your choosing.

Visitation will take place on Friday, Aug. 16, at 9:30 a.m. followed by the funeral at 10:30 a.m. in Peace Lutheran Church, Fargo. Burial will occur later in the day at Gol Aal Cemetery, rural Wyndmere.