Paula Swanson

Paula Deedee Swanson, 74, Bismarck, passed away at her home in the early hours of Oct. 17, 2020 after 11 months of fighting cancer. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23. Due to Covid-19, the memorial will be for family and invited guests. Others may view the livestream.

Paula was born Nov. 25, 1946 in Bismarck to Lillian and Warner Quale. Paula  maintained life-long friendships from Richholt Elementary, Hughes Junior High, and  Bismarck High School where she graduated from in 1964. 

At the age of three, Paula began her music education and piano study with Belle Mehus at the Mehus Music Conservatory. At age 17, she began teaching piano students at the Conservatory. She continued to teach at the Conservatory each summer while in college. She attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance in 1968.

It was at St. Olaf, the beginning of freshman year, that she met her husband, John. They dated off and on over the course of their college years, and in 1968, married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bismarck. During their early married years, they lived in Chicago where Paula worked for one of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s inner-city projects, and as a transcriptionist for child psychologist, Benjamin Bloom, at the U. of Chicago. The couple moved to Minneapolis in 1970, and in September of that year, welcomed their son, Zac. She had two more children born in Bismarck, daughter Gina in 1976 and Erik in 1978.

In 1974, Paula and family moved back to Bismarck and Paula began teaching again at the Mehus Conservatory. Paula eventually started teaching privately in her home and retired from piano teaching in 2004. Before retirement, she used her musical talent to accompany the Century High School choir, sing with the Bismarck Civic Chorus, and perform musically at Trinity Lutheran Church.

Family was always central to Paula. Countless relatives on her father’s side (Quale) and her mother’s side (Gunderson) gathered together biannually for large family reunions in Watford City, Keene, and Medora, ND with the Gunderson’s and on the west coast with the Quale’s. These early years of gathering as an extended family were a highlight each year to her and her children.

Her creative spirit didn’t stop with her music. She was a talented and avid quilter spending many hours before and after retirement designing, piecing, and quilting. She was accomplished at the Norwegian craft of rosemaling, and most recently, had been breaking perfectly nice pieces of china only to put them back together again, in an order she preferred, creating funky mosaics. Any odd bit of anything interesting was in danger of becoming part of her mosaic pieces.

Also important to Paula was her “she-shed”  for crafting at the family lake cabin in Detroit Lakes, MN. Up until the summer of 2020, she and John spent full summers at the lake crafting, thrifting, and spending time with her friends and family. 

Paula is survived by her husband, John; son, Zac and daughter-in-law, Danae, Sauk Rapids, Minn.; daughter, Gina and husband, Patrick Phillips, Bismarck; and son Erik “Gunnar” and daughter-in-law, Dawn, Rapid City, S.D. She is also survived by grandsons, Iver and August Phillips; sisters, Brenda Foat, Minneapolis, Minn., and Wanda Quale, Bloomington, Minn.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Warner and Lillian Quale; grandson Leif Phillips; her grandparents; and many beloved aunts, uncles, and cousins.

The family would like to thank the staff at Missouri Slope and CHI St. Alexius Home Care for their compassionate care of Paula in her last days.

Memorials may be sent to Bismarck Cancer Center or Central Dakota Humane Society.