Edna Mae Boardman

Edna Mae Boardman (81) was born on January 22, 1935 to Carl and Christina Schieve (Zweigle) in Frazer, Montana. After the death of her mother, at the age of 5 she went to live with foster parents Emil and Ella Berg on a farm in rural Benedict, North Dakota. As a child and young adult she loved the farm animals, reading, walking, learning about plant life, and attended a one room school house. She attended the Sawyer Mennonite Brethren Church religiously. This provided food for future stories, earning her many awards and culminating in her book “All Things Decently And In Order.” She did her degree and graduate work at Minot State University - where she was editor of the school paper - the University of Montana, St. Cloud State University, Indiana University – Bloomington, and the University of North Dakota. She began her teaching career in a rural school, then moved on to a high school in Garrison, where she met her husband, Harold Boardman. They were married June 1, 1959. They had a son, Chase, in November 1960 and soon after moved to Kensal, where Harold was minister of two small churches. In 1964 they had a daughter, Mary. Edna greatly enjoyed being a mother and passed her great love of reading on to her children, always reading them stories, and singing songs. Being a minister’s wife fit with her deep religious faith and spiritual sensibilities. When her husband became ill, they moved to Rugby in 1968. She taught English at Rugby High School and later became the Head Librarian there. She and Harold were active in the Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star. In 1976 she moved to Minot where she went on to be the Head Librarian at Minot High School, Magic City Campus. She loved academics and research, and truly cared about her students. In Minot she was an active member of Vincent United Methodist Church and sang in the church choir. As a mother, she said the greatest piece of advice she was ever given was to “give your kids a talent.” She encouraged her children in their pursuits of music, writing, business, political science and supported their quirky career choices that took them all over the globe - all this from a mother who wanted them in by 10:00 PM. Her passion was writing, which was an enormous source of family pride and humor. (She was a Catherine the Great enthusiast – she frequently worked her latest reading or research into conversation.) As an author and book reviewer, for over 30 years she wrote for various publications including Book Report Magazine, Kliatt, and Heritage Review - the publication of the Germans from Russia Heritage Society, where she was Secretary of the Board of Directors and edited their newsletter for many years. In every group and organization she was part of, she mildly begrudgingly ended up writing their newsletter. At the Germans from Russia Heritage Society national convention, she was awarded their highest honor for writing – The Joseph S. Height Memorial Literary Award – multiple times. Also as an accomplished author, she was selected to contribute a chapter highlighting the 1940’s for the North Dakota Centennial book “Day In, Day Out - Women’s Lives in North Dakota.” She retired from teaching in 1998 and moved to Bismarck in 2002. She was an active member of McCabe United Methodist Church, enjoying Sojourners, Bible study groups and the early morning meditation group. Her church and spirituality were of significant importance in her life. She was a breast cancer survivor. She was a Scrabble QUEEN and it was a rare coup to beat her. She was preceded in death by her parents Carl and Christina Schieve, Emil and Ella Berg, husband Rev. Harold Boardman, brothers Ernest Schieve, Daniel Schmidt, and sister Elsie Gimse. She is survived by son Chase Boardman (Pasadena, CA), daughter Mary Boardman (Bismarck, ND), daughter-in-law Cathy Boardman (Pasadena, CA), grand-daughters Noeline and Jacqueline Mae Boardman (Pasadena, CA), sister Vivian Berg and brother-in-law Dick Wirtz (Cape Coral, FL), many loved nieces and nephews, and Edna’s special friend, Art Pfeifer (Rugby, ND).