Born Sept. 28, 1921, on a homestead on the Hettinger-Adams County line and christened Adele Ethel Svihovec, she was the youngest of nine children born to pioneers Emil and Barbara Svihovec, natives of Bohemia.


After her mother's early death, Adeline attended the one-room Svihovec School and then Mott High, graduating at 16. After briefly moving to Connecticut and Minneapolis to live with relatives, she attended Dickinson State, graduating in 1942. Her teaching career began at the Runkel School south of Mott where she lived in a tiny house trailer built by her brother, Rudolph. She also taught at the Regent and Mott public schools and worked as a substitute teacher at St. Vincent's in Mott.


On her 23rd birthday, she married Marine Corps Lt. Robert Carvell of Fargo. They had six children: Kevin of Fargo, Mary Pat (Paul) Schwartz of Mott, Nancy (Tim) Exner of Jamestown, Charles (Melanie) of Bismarck, Peggy (John) Fiedler of Mott, and Robert (Linda) of Bismarck.


Besides raising a family, she assisted her husband in operating Mott Drug, a business they owned 46 years. After her husband's 1992 death, Adeline sold the store to her daughter Mary Pat.


In addition to being a member of St. Vincent's Church and teaching religion in Mott and Regent, she served as president of the Altar Society. During her life, she was on the Southwest North Dakota Community Action Partnership board, a director of the Hettinger County American Red Cross, a member of the Mott Study Club and Heart Butte Association, and a leader of the Girl Scouts, Bluebirds, Campfire Girls, and Cub Scouts. She was also involved in the Democratic-NonPartisan League, hosting gatherings in her home for leaders like Gov. William Guy and U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad.


After playing a key role in raising funds to build the nursing home in Mott in 1975, she served as secretary of its advisory committee and on its board of directors.


She loved to read and was deeply interested in issues of the day. At the end of the Vietnam War, she made room in her house for a family of Vietnamese refugees. That family gave birth to a son during that time and gave him the first name of "Carvell."


Adeline was an aggressive card player who gave no quarter even to her own young children. She taught herself to cook and became a superb chef. A Bohemian delicacy, kolaches, were a specialty. Priests absent from their duties at St. Vincent's or Assumption Abbey could often be found in her kitchen.


In addition to her children and their spouses, she is survived by 11 grandchildren and four step-grandchildren: Ben (Jen) Graner of the Twin Cities; Natasha Carvell of Washington, DC; Alison (Jim) Kennison of Jamestown; Theresa (Aven) Hutt of Sioux City, IA; Kelsey Carvell of Boston, MA; Ryan (Caitlyn) Exner of Nags Head, NC; Kate (Beau) Finck of Fargo; Robert (Katie) Carvell of Great Falls, MT; Joseph Fiedler and Elliot Carvell of Bismarck; Claire Fiedler of Mott; Angie Schwartz and Dawn (Brock) Schatz of Bismarck; Jaylea Zent of the Twin Cities; and Taylor Zent of Bismarck, There are six great-grandchildren: Emily, Jared, and Adele of Jamestown; Noah and Jacoby of Sioux City; Sophia of the Twin Cities; and Madison, Landon, and Kobe of Bismarck.


Adeline died of kidney failure Nov. 6, 2010. Visitation will be from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11 at the St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Mott, followed by a prayer service 7 p.m. Funeral Mass will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, 2010. Fr. Charles Zins will officiate and burial will be next to her husband and parents in the Svihovec family plot at the Sunnyslope Cemetery in Mott, ND.