Service of Remembrance for Dorothy Oase, 84, of Reeder, ND will be Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Reeder. Pastor Stephanie Swanson will officiate and burial will follow at the Rose Hill Cemetery, south of Reeder. Visitation will be from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Hettinger, ND on Tuesday, May 20. A gathering of family and friends will be Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Funeral Home.


Dorothy Noreen (Ballweber) Oase was the first of eleven children born to Delmar and Nora (Hofland) Ballweber, on March 19, 1924 at home in Desart,, North Dakota (a former town, straight west of the Rainy Butte Church). Dorothy's grandmother Mrs. Carrie Ballweber was in attendance at the time of her birth.


Dorothy's parents, Delmar and Nora Ballweber, lived at DeSart for a number of years and then moved to Reeder, North Dakota, living in several different houses in town while raising a family that grew to one of five sons and six daughters. Dorothy, the oldest, was confirmed at Our Savior's Lutheran Church on July 2, 1939 under Pastor Joseph E. Lee.


The children of Delmar and Nora worked at various jobs in the community and surrounding area. As a teenager, Dorothy and her sister, Carol, worked at an implement dealership in Reeder, assisting customers and performing bookkeeping duties for the store. While in high school, she played half-court basketball, often traveling to out-of-town games on the "Dingy" (a one car passenger train. Graduating from Reeder Public School, on May 29, 1942, Dorothy attended college at Dickinson State University for a short time and later moved to Los Angeles, California with her dad, Delmar, and her sister, Carol. They lived with Aunt Laura and Stanley Hofland and also Aunt Doris and Bernie Walner. Dorothy and Carol were employed by the Defense Plant Corporation, gluing rubber liners for gas tanks of P-51 fighter planes. Upon returning home to Reeder,


Dorothy met and married Norman Oase from Bucyrus, North Dakota, in a double wedding ceremony with her sister, Carol and fiancé', Winston Markegard, on October 5, 1945 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Reeder. Dorothy and Norman farmed briefly in the Reeder area and later moved to Laurel, Montana where Norman worked as a ranch hand for Lyle Markegard.


It was on their return home to Reeder, where they decided to start Oase Excavation, a backhoe business, which continued until Norman became disabled. Dorothy was an at-home mom, raising all six children in the family home (former dentist office) in the town of Reeder, and with kids at home also took care of the family-owned Laundromat and later on did substitute driving for the rural mail route. She was a den mother for the Boy Scouts of America for many years, and was an avid basketball fan. She did seamstress work for people in the area and made countless pieces of clothing for her family. Many of the church banners, altar clothes, and stoles were projects that she and others had worked on over the years. Dorothy spent many years, working with the woman of Our Savior's, sewing quilts in the basement of the church. Buffalo Gals was another homemaker's club that Dorothy enjoyed being a part of.


Norman and Dorothy's home was 'grand central station' for people to congregate when there were family reunions, town celebrations, hunting parties, and other events. She enjoyed cooking and especially bread-making (buns and biscuits), and of course lefse, skills she acquired from her mother, Nora. If you visited her home, Dorothy could be seen sewing at her machine, scrubbing floors, driving equipment, kneading dough, drinking coffee while sharing a good laugh with family and friends, babysitting grandkids, working in the rock garden, watching birds, and keeping up on the ballgame scores by radio or TV. She was always a great resource for getting information about the history of the town of Reeder. She will be greatly missed.


Dorothy Oase passed away at the St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, ND on May 16, 2007.

Grateful for having been a part of her life are her daughters, Peggy (d.) (Ed) Hanyzewski, Pelican Rapids, MN, Trish (Curtis) Tews, Reeder, ND and Pam (Tony) Scheerz, New Salem, ND; her sons, Greg (Pam) Oase, Bismarck, ND, Harvey (Denise) Oase and Jeff (Sarah) Oase, all of Reeder; siblings, Carol(d.) (Winston) Markegard, Lois (d.) (Elvin) Schwarzwalter, Duane (d.) (Delfena) Ballweber, Breckenridge, MN, Willard (d.) (Mora) Ballweber, CA, JoAnn (Fritz (d.)) Schwartz, Scranton, ND, Nola (Jerry) Goode, Whitefish, MT, LaVon (Jake (d.)) Braun, Kennewick, WA, Roger (Bernice) Ballweber, Fergus Falls, MN, Doug (JoAnn) Ballweber, Elgin, ND, and Riley (d.)(Cleo)Ballweber, Scranton, ND; 12 grandchildren, one great granddaughter, nieces, nephews, and numerous cousins. Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Norman, sisters, Carol and Lois, brothers Riley, Duane, and Willard, a daughter, Peggy (Ed) Hanyzewski, and a grandson, Greg Oase, Jr.


Memorials to Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Reeder are preferred by her family.