Charlene Piper

Charlene Beth Piper, 63, Durbin, ND, passed away on Friday, March 21, 2003, at MeritCare Hospital, Fargo. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, in Goshen Moravian Church, rural south Casselton, ND. Visitation will be held Monday from 5:00-7:00 p.m., with a prayer service at 7:00 p.m., in Goshen Moravian Church. Mrs. Piper was born September 1, 1939, to William and Doris Anderson, and grew up in Fargo. She attended Fargo schools and graduated from Central High School. She married Harold William Piper on June 4, 1960, after attending NDSU for three years. Together they raised a family and ran a dairy farm in the Casselton/Durbin area, welcoming numerous extended family members into their home during summer school breaks and serving as second parents to many nieces, nephews and foreign exchange trainees. She has been a member of the Goshen Moravian Church since her marriage. She was an active member of the church, and served on many boards of the Goshen women?s fellowship and circles. Charlene is remembered by her family and many friends as a loving and hard-working woman who always did the right thing, both from the heart and the soul. She was an active member and officer in the North Dakota Dairy Promotion Commission for over 20 years. She has been a member of the Town and Country Quilt Circle for many years, and served as Chairman for the last few years. She has been widely recognized as a gifted artist in this craft. In 1989, when she and her family were named the North Dakota Dairy Farm Family of the Year, she was asked to create a quilt design to be used for the lunchroom placemat dairy promotion sent to public schools throughout the state. Charlene is survived by her loving husband, Harold; her daughter, Carrie Piper Cummer, with her husband, Jeff and their children, Charles and Cole, at the Durbin dairy farm; her daughter, Jana Piper-Smette, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her husband, Lorne, and children, Jarid and Amber; her brother, Conrad, resides in Littleton, Colorado; and her sisters, Cheryl Anderson and Rebecca Shonkwiler, live in St. Paul, Minnesota, and San Francisco, California, respectively. Both Charlene?s close and extended family members and her friends mourn her passing. While they are grateful that she is at peace after a long illness, she will be deeply missed. Arrangements by Fredrikson Funeral Chapel, Kindred.