Elaine Kremers

Elaine Kremers was born in Redmond, Washington on July 21, 1941, to Lawrence and Mary Luger.  As a little girl, she lived in Fort Yates, ND, where she grew up with three brothers and two sisters. She stayed busy in high school with cheerleading and baton twirling, and graduated valedictorian of her class.

When Elaine graduated from Standing Rock High School, she attended Dickinson State University to get her teaching degree. Two years later, she landed a 4^th grade teaching position in Beach, ND. It was here that she met her two lifelong friends, Eldora Dahl and Verona Lechler. They had many adventures together, including a camping trip that took them all the way to the Grand Canyon. Of course, Elaine was a scaredy-cat, so she slept in the car every night.

It’s also in Beach where she met the love of her life, James Kremers.  They met at a wedding dance, and Dad thought she looked like Elizabeth Taylor. The rest is history…. James sold his Harley Davidson to buy a kitchen table, and on the family homestead near Golva, ND, they started their new family. Over the next 16 years, they would have six children (after all, they needed cheap farm labor!)

Although Elaine had given up her teaching career to raise kids and help run the farm, she never gave up her love of learning.  She worked part-time as a substitute teacher in Golva and Beach, was a 4-H leader, taught CCD, and took correspondence courses through the mail.  When the work was done, she loved to square dance, play tennis, and play board games with her children. She was hard to beat at trivia, and nearly impossible to beat at Scrabble.  Many evenings were filled with laughter and light-hearted ribbing as she gave everyone around the table lots of opportunities to be a gracious loser.

As the kids grew older and started their own families, Elaine finally had more spare time.  She and Sheryl Fisher became close friends.  They were a force to reckon with on the golf course (watch out for those two crazy ladies on the golf cart!)  

As Elaine grew older, she longed to be closer to her children. Eventually, she and James retired from farming and moved to Bismarck.  Her family has now grown to 14 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren (and counting!)  Throughout it all, Elaine’s faith was an integral part of her life.  She trusted God to take care of her family and took great comfort in going to church.

Elaine was preceded in death by her parents- Lawrence and Mary Luger; her brothers- Lawrence “Bucky” Luger and Mike Luger, and her son-in-law, Rocky Metzger.

Elaine leaves behind her husband- James; her children- Lisa (Henry) Gerving, Mike Kremers, Jeanne Metzger, Beth (Andy) Dahl, Kristin Kremers, and Robert (Kayla) Kremers; her siblings- Genie (Henry) Gayton, James (Jane) Luger, and JoAnn (Bill) Lukens and sisters-in-law, Barb Luger and Joyce Luger.