Frances Zastoupil

Finally St. Peter has opened the doors for me! I, Frances Zastoupil, died of old age at the age of 88 on February 24, 2021. Funeral Liturgy will be 10 a.m. Saturday, February 27, 2021 at Stevenson Funeral Home in Dickinson. Burial will follow at St. Wenceslaus Cemetery.

Visitation will be 4-6 p.m. Friday, February 26 at Stevenson Funeral Home.

The family requests all those attending practice social distancing and wear masks. For those unable to attend, Frances’ services will be livestreamed on the Stevenson Funeral Home website. Click on Frances’ photo, select photos and videos, click watch webcast. The livestream will be active 15 minutes before the service.

I was born on March 10, 1932 (the fifth child) to the parents of Ned (Ignat) and Annie (Polensky) Buresh. I had three sisters and one brother that died in infancy. I was raised in a sod house and went to a one room school from 1st – 3rd grades; then went to St. Peter & Paul Boarding School in New Hradec from 4th – 5th grades. When Bill and Lillian took over Ma and Dad’s farm, we moved to Dickinson and I went to St. Pat’s School through 8th grade. I would get nickels and dimes to babysit in the neighborhood. I’d get paid 25 cents to curl ladies’ hair and 10 cents to comb out.

I met my husband Laudie when he and I were attendants for my sister Regina’s wedding. We got married November 12, 1947 and took over the Zastoupil homestead, eventually buying the farm and farming for 27 years. It was a lot of hard work raising six kids in a two room farm house without running water; eventually adding on three bedrooms. I baked bread twice a week and raised a huge garden and canned fruits and vegetables, milked cows and raised chickens selling the cream and eggs for grocery money besides working in the fields and shocking the grain. When Karla started school in about 1963 I got a job at Schnell’s Livestock at the lunch counter. Laudie and I both worked as bartender and barmaid for weddings and club entertainment at the German-Hungarian and St. Anthony Clubs in Dickinson. We finally got running water. Life was sure easier not having to carry water for the laundry, etc. In 1974 I got a job with the Dairy Association where I would stay overnight at each dairy farmer’s so I could get an evening and morning sample of each cow’s milk which I had to test for butterfat. I quit that job when Laudie died in 1975 when I rented out the farm and moved to town. I worked at the Dairy Queen from 1976-1977. I bought a camper and went camping, fishing, and traveled. Life was good. I worked for the Advertiser for 6 years until I moved to Lake Havasue, AZ in 1985. Life got easier.

I lived in Arizona for 8 years and worked in various factories; they would shut down and move to Mexico where labor was cheaper so I’d get another factory job. I had lots of fun in Lake Havasue and had lots of company who’d come for the gambling. I loved playing Bingo. In 1993 I moved to Great Falls, MT where my two sisters Regina and Lillian lived. After about 4 years I moved to Post Falls, ID (which I thought was God’s Country) buying my first brand new home. I enjoyed helping Karla and Gary with their kids and grandchildren babysitting my great-grandson Kohl when he was a baby. I worked at McDonald’s as a hostess until my arthritis got too bad. I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis; arthritis raised hell with my life and I began my life of pain taking a lot of pills. When the steps in my house got to be too hard for me, I moved to a 55+ facility where I still owned my own home. In 2014 I decided to move back to ND where my oldest daughter, Rita, lived. With my kids’ help I put my house up for sale. I moved into the Crescent Manor in Bismarck, ND which was low income apartments.

I am survived by my 5 daughters and 3 sons-in-law Rich and Rita Roller of Bismarck; Beverly Spence and Jaqueline McBride both of South Carolina, Linda and Tom Pearson of Oregon, and Karla and Gary Baldwin of Idaho. Also surviving me are my 15 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren; and 1 sister-in-law Dorothy Ridl of Dickinson. I was the Matriarch of the Buresh family.

I was preceded in death by my husband Laudie of 28 years who died in 1975; my son Clifford who died in 2016; and one son-in-law Bill McBride who died in 2018. Also my Ma and Dad Ned and Annie (Polensky) Buresh; one grandchild Budd Baldwin; one great-grandchild Chase Stephens; 4 sisters Lillian Maas, Betty Hammel and Regina Meyer-Royland, Loretta (Lori) Praus and one brother Vincent Buresh; 4 sister-in-law Bernice, Eleanor, Charlotte Zastoupil and Donna Buresh; 10 brothers-in-law Bill Maas, Raymond Hammel, Pete Meyer, Carsten Royland, Ron Praus, August, Vince, Adolf, Fr. Steven Zastoupil and Art Ridl.