Connie Marie Enerson, age 61, of Hettinger, ND, passed away on Tuesday evening, October 13, 2015, at the St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, ND.

Mass of Christian Burial for Connie will be Monday, October 19, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. Monsignor Gene Lindemann will officiate. Burial will be at the North Dakota Veteran's Cemetery south of Mandan, ND on Tuesday, October 20 at 2:00 p.m. CT. Visitation will be from 3:00 to 6:30 followed by a Rosary/Wake service on Sunday, October 18, all at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Hetinger, ND.

Connie was born to Paul and Sally Slater in Hettinger, North Dakota on September 10, 1954 at Hettinger hospital. It was a beautiful fall day during harvest time. Connie was the third child of six children on the Slater farm.

Farm life gave her a love for rural North Dakota and she remained in Hettinger her entire adult life.

As a child, she loved to be outdoors and had a passion for riding her horse Patches. She also developed a passion for German cooking which she carried forward. She was constantly researching new recipes and trying them out on her family, keeping track of the good ones in her own cookbook.

She graduated from Hettinger High School as an honor student in 1972. She had many close friends that are still dear to her today. Her senior year memory book talks of her favorite hobbies then which were fishing, riding horse, reading, and baking. She had many interests in high school and even took welding and auto classes.

She wrote this Henry Van Dyke poem in her memory book:
"Time is. . .
Too slow for those who wait.
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve
Too short for those who rejoice,
But for those who love,
Time is not."

Connie left high school ready to take on the world and started working at the nursing home in Hettinger. It is there that a spark ignited with Rod Enerson while he was helping an electrician working there. They were married at Christmas time, on December 27, 1974. This coming anniversary would celebrate their 41st year of marriage. She left the nursing home and worked at JC Penney's until Rhonda was born on January 8, 1979. After Rhonda was born, she did odd jobs – even planting trees for soil conservation – until her son Scott was born on June 28, 1981. Her children were special to her. After Scott was born, Connie stayed home to be a wife, mother, and homemaker until everyone was in school. Her children have many happy memories with her working on arts and crafts projects.

As her own children grew older, Connie started to work again at her sister-in-law Laura's daycare and was able to nurture a generation of children through their younger years. She continued to follow these kids' lives at the Hettinger School. Connie began working for the Adams County Register of Deeds office in 1998. She described in her resume that she was very proud of the work she put into cataloging the plat cabinet so that the office could avoid going through every sheet in every drawer to find a plat.
In March 2004, Connie started working at Adams County Social Services where she was a working compliment to everyone in the office. Among her coworkers, Connie was the glue holding everything together and helping make sure the office was running smoothly. She was an advocate for clients and for the office, taking pride in being a good steward of the county's money. As the "queen of billing" she made sure that the office was always billing and receiving the needed budget to be able to provide the best level of service for people in need. She would always make the people needing Social Services help feel welcome through her non-judgmental greeting and positivity both in the office and on the phone. Connie was feeling good on the day before she died and was still happy to be helping her coworkers from her hospital bed. On a personal level, she was a friend to each of her coworkers and always willing to listen and validate. She knew just the right thing to say and could compassionately deliver a difficult message without sugarcoating.

Connie never missed her children's events and was deeply committed to giving them opportunities she never had, pushing them to become the well-rounded individuals they are today. She was incredibly proud of them.

Anyone who knows Connie would remember her laugh and her smile. When walking into a building, just wait a few minutes to hear her laugh and then you could find her! She was determined and methodical in her projects. She would research and study and map out specific details of every project – much to the chagrin of those who had a part! Rod had a never ending list waiting for him when he came home. Rod gets a chuckle from an old cow-themed decoration that says the home was "udder chaos," but Connie had a reason and a place for everything!

Connie relished every minute of her time which would sometimes make her late. We always knew we would be waiting for Connie and family to arrive "a little late." There were many Christmases at the farm where everyone placed a bet on her arrival time.
Connie followed every member of her family and kept in touch with everyone. She never missed a concert, play, or game that her children, nieces, and nephews were in. She had a love for music and drama and supported it on a local level, in addition to enjoying stories of her son's travels with the Notre Dame Glee Club. She was especially proud to share the Glee Club's music with the Hettinger community when she organized a concert in the fall of 2002 and loved hearing the Glee Club sing their signature Franz Biebl Ave Maria arrangement. She was the person we all depended on to give us an opinion, to know all of the details about families, relatives, and cousins, to be the financial advisor, to map out projects, to get help with a recipe.

Connie supported her community – she was particularly active as a volunteer for NMB, leading efforts to raise money for worthy community projects, and St. Catherine's Group, providing food and fellowship at funerals. Connie and Rod spent many fun times with friends at Saturday Morning breakfast, wine tastings, pizza in Scranton, and soup suppers in Reeder. They laughed together pulling practical jokes and pranks among friends!

Connie's mom Sally was diagnosed with ovarian cancer several years ago. At that time, Connie researched the disease and never dreamed it would strike her. She was diagnosed on June 1st 2015. Connie became the trail blazer for the rest of us with daily posts of her condition on Facebook and was often encouraging everyone to know the symptoms for this difficult cancer. She kept the doctors hopping with questions so that she could give detailed status reports on her treatment. Connie fought and fought but did not win the battle. She died on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, North Dakota. She gave us her final Facebook update on the morning of her passing.

She had her family, Rod, Rhonda, and Scott at her side as well as her mother Sally, sister-in-law Laura and good friends Michele, Holly, and Heidi. She was so peaceful.

She knew she was loved. We all knew she loved her family and all of her friends. Rod was her rock and through this illness, he never left her side. Rod helped build the Veterans Cemetery in Mandan as part of a National Guard project. He is proud to have prepared Connie's final resting place.

Grateful for having shared in Connie's life are her husband, Rod Enerson, of Hettinger, her mother, Sally Slater, of Hettinger, her daughter, Rhonda (Brian) Wick, of West Fargo, ND and Connie's grandchildren, Sienna, Aiden and Asher Wick, her son, Scott Enerson and fiancé Daniel Leiva, both of Stockholm, Sweden, her siblings, Kenny Slater, Williston, ND, Larry Slater, Hettinger, ND, Alan Slater and fiancé Kathy, of Fargo, ND, Lori (Jeff) Trautwein, McMinnville, TN and Mark (Laura) Slater, Hettinger, ND, her in-laws, Phyllis Enerson and Larry Jackson, Reeder, ND, Jeanette Hassebrock, Papillion, NE, Harlan (Claudia) Enerson, Hettinger, Darlene Enerson, Reeder, LeNae(Dell) Lind, Bismarck, ND, Ronnie (Joyce) Enerson, Glenpool, OK and Darrel (Kim) Enerson, Bismarck, ND and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and many friends.

Connie was preceded in death by her father, Paul Slater and her in-laws, Sherman Enerson, Duane Enerson, Jerry and Dixie Enerson and Gene Enerson.



In lieu of flowers, a Memorial will be established to the Hettinger School Drama and Music Programs.