Lois K. Erickstad

Lois K. Erickstad, 91, Bismarck, died December 8, 2017, at Touchmark, in Bismarck, ND. A funeral service will be held at 1:00 pm, Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at Lutheran Church of the Cross, 1004 E Highland Acres Rd, Bismarck, with Rev. Lisa Ahlness officiating. Visitation will be held on Tuesday December 12, from 5:00 – 7:00 pm at Eastgate Funeral Service, 2302 East Divide Avenue, Bismarck. Burial will be on Wednesday, December 13, at 10:00 am at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. Lois Katherine Erickstad was born on December 6, 1926, in Minneapolis, MN, to Katherine and Albert Jacobson of Northeast Minneapolis. She was affectionately known as Jake and grew up a tomboy in a household of outdoorspeople who fished, watched and hunted birds, and loved dogs. She attended Minneapolis Public Schools where she was homecoming queen of Edison High School in 1944. She attended and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in Business Administration. While in college she participated in L.S.A.  (Lutheran Student Association) where she met her future husband Ralph Erickstad from Starkweather ND, who had served in Eighth Army Air Corps on B24 bomber missions over Germany in WWII. They married in 1949 and moved to Devils Lake, ND where Ralph practiced law and served as State Senator from Ramsey County from 1957 until 1961. They moved to Bismarck in 1963 when Ralph was elected as Justice of the ND Supreme Court where he served for 30 years. She was active in a PTA, Boy Scouts, and the Lutheran Church. She served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Lutheran Social Services, Board Member of the Burleigh-Morton Red Cross Chapter, Vice President of Western ND Synod of ELCA, member of the Bismarck Park Board, Missouri Valley YMCA, PEO sisterhood, Fortnightly Study Club, and Golden K Club (Kiwanis). She received her Masters of Public Administration from University of North Dakota in 1983. She traveled widely in the United States with her husband but they cherished their time at their Wood Lake cottage near Tokio, ND. She enjoyed cooking and especially baking whole wheat bread for her family and friends. After Ralph died in 2001, she continued to live in their home where she never tired of tending to roses, hydrangeas, irises and lilies in her terraced flower garden. Despite failing eyesight, she continued to make quilts. She enjoyed walking her various dogs (especially her golden retriever named Jake) along the bluffs of the Missouri River every day. She survived non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma but eventually developed congestive heart failure as a consequence. She sold her home of fifty-five years and moved into Touchmark in May of 2017. There she renewed many friendships and enjoyed various activities until her health worsened and forced her to give these up. She was blessed with many good friends and devoted family members. She celebrated her ninety-first birthday on December 6 and died on December 8, at Touchmark. She is survived by her younger and only brother, Donald (Sharon) of Minneapolis; two sons, John (Sandra) and Mark, both of Bismarck; four granddaughters, Jessica (Greg) Bledsoe, Jennifer (Gary Hutton), Katherine (Grant) Schoneman, all of San Diego, Karen, of Denver; and one grandson, Michael (Stacy Kurnikova), of San Diego, and four great-grandchildren, Beckett, Lauren, Will, and Tycho; three nieces, Donna Kiffe, Sandra Jacobson, and Laura Feinstein, and one nephew, Douglas Jacobson. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Ralph; and one granddaughter, Elizabeth Ann. The family would like to especially thank her closest friend Shirley Fox and also her next door neighbors Bob and Joann Cordova for their kindness and devotion. We would also like to express our gratitude for the wonderful care provided by the Touchmark staff, Dr. Radu Rauta, and Pastors Lisa Ahlness and Donna Dohrmann. Memorials are preferred to the YMCA, the Boy Scouts, and the Central Dakota Humane Society.