Mass of Christian Burial for Laurane Anna Stevens, 99, of Hettinger, ND will be Friday, April 1, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Hettinger, ND. Fr. John Mathai will officiate and burial will follow at the Hettinger Cemetery.

Laurane Anna Krenz, born on August 27th 1905, has been witness to a hundred years of family, love, and amazing world change. Her parents, William & Anna (Tews), arrived as homesteaders by horse and wagon with two children, deciding later that Anne would return temporarily to Minnesota for the birth of Laurane. It was growing up on the Krenz homestead, north of Reeder ND, near the favored Cedar Dam that Laurane walked the six miles each day to attend the Enterprise Public School. It was school, working on the farm, and assisting with rearing of her siblings that occupied her life until she met a charming handsome young man, Charles (Charlie) Hayden Stevens. They were wed November 10, 1924. These same years brought the entry of the United States into WWI, Influenza Epidemic of 1917, and the deaths of her loved sister Clara and her father. The automobile was now the mode of transportation and women were given the right to vote. Following their marriage in 1924 Charlie and Laurane moved about to farm and support their family that eventually grew to include one son and three daughters. They were onlookers to a country surviving the Great Depression and later WWII. Over several years the couple made the transition from farmers to jobs in Hettinger, never parting with the farm but making their residence in town. Together they worked at the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company. Charlie's early death in 1958 left a loneliness that she spoke of until her own passing. Laurane continued working at Pepsi Cola until 1967. Upon retirement she spent her years, gardening, crocheting, sewing, quilting, traveling with Reverend Juell's Senior Citizens, and nurturing her ever extending family as grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren were added. She was an onlooker to the civil rights movement, the telecommunications explosion, great medical advancements, and not only the building of the Berlin Wall, but also the tearing down. Laurane was a devout member of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church for over sixty five years. In her lifetime she was an eyewitness to eighteen United States presidents from President Teddy Roosevelt to our current president, President George Bush. Laurane entered the Hillcrest Care Center November of 2002 where she passed from this life peacefully on March 28, 2005. She will be remembered with love.

Grateful for having shared her life are her daughters Marcella Senn of Hettinger ND, Eunice (Orville) Steyer of Dickinson ND, Sharon (Robert) Hall of Northfield MN, and son William (June) Stevens of Stanley ND. Also included: sister Hazel Dodd of Eugene OR, grandchildren Sharlon Rathjen, Sandra Muth, John "Chuck" Senn, Melody Zimmerman, Steven Senn, Mischelle Reede, Charleen Kalina, Marla Meggers, Loren Steyer, Ronna Hansonl, Robert Stevens, Meredith Walker, Kirsten Moon, Allison Moon, and Elizabeth Moon, 28 great grandchildren and 10 great-great grandchildren. Preceding Laurane in death were her husband Charles, her parents, her brother Walter in 1980 and sisters Clara in 1924, Gladys in 2003, Alvina in 2004, Bernice in 2000, and Wilma in 2003.