Lawrence Weber

Funeral Mass for Lawrence “Swede” Weber, 77 of Gladstone will be 1:00 p. m. , Thursday, March 10, 2016 at Stevenson Funeral Home in Dickinson with Father Thomas Wordekemper, OSB celebrating. Entombment will take place at the Dickinson Mausoleum. Military Rites will be by the Dickinson Honor Guard. Visitation will be from 4:00 p. m. to 8:00 p. m. on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 with a Rosary and Vigil service being said at 7:00 p. m. at the Stevenson Funeral Home. Visitation will continue on Thursday from 8:00 a. m. until the Mass begins. Swede passed away on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at his home in Gladstone, ND. Lawrence Anthony Weber “Swede” was born on September 20, 1938 in Highmore, South Dakota, to Lawrence J. & Louise (Morgan) Ferrell. He was the only boy growing up with five sisters. He attended grade school and high school in Highmore, graduating from Highmore High School in 1957. Following his graduation, he gained employment with Beckman Construction Co. of Pierre, South Dakota. While working with this company he helped build the Oahe Dam. Swede married his high school sweetheart, Myrna Ferris, on September 23, 1961. He was drafted into the US Army in 1962, spending two years stationed at Ft. Carson, Colorado, Ft. Hood, Texas and Ft. Benning, Georgia. Swede worked with the construction battalion of the US Army and during that service constructed the podium from which President John F. Kennedy gave an address while visiting Ft. Benning. Upon being honorably discharged from the US Army in 1964, Swede became employed by Western Dredging Co. as a dragline operator in Highmore, South Dakota. The company, then owned by Tex Peters, moved to Gladstone. Swede bought this business six years later and turned it into Dakota Dragline Service. He spent the remainder of his working days digging stock watering dugouts for farmers, building bridges and other types of heavy equipment activity throughout Southwestern North Dakota. There are very few dugouts in North Dakota that were not dug by Dakota Dragline Service. Swede moved his family from South Dakota to Gladstone in 1970. He was active in the Gladstone community in Knights of Columbus, the Jaycees, Gladstone softball and missed very few of his children’s and nine grandchildren’s school and athletic functions. He was also very active in the North Dakota Land Improvement Contractors Association and was their president in 1969. Swede was a man of few words and enjoyed the simple things in life. The Side Track coffee club in Gladstone was a morning ritual before becoming ill where he enjoyed sharing stories and a joke or two. Swede will be greatly missed by his wife, Myrna (Ferris), of 54 years; 4 children: John (Lori) Weber and son Ryan, Dickinson; daughter Juli (Greg) Sickler and daughters Thea (Tyler Kostelecky), (great granddaughter, Gwenivere) and Tasha, Bismarck; son James Weber and children Kostner and Josie, Killdeer; and daughter Jodi (Troy) Bosch and sons James, Jerzy and Jeter, Dickinson. Swede is also survived by his sisters Pat Lass, Highmore, SD; Sandy (Kenneth) Werdel, Ree Heights, SD; and Cathy (Roger) Wang, Rapid City, SD; brothers-in-law Kenneth (Joyce) Ferris, Huron, SD, Mike (Gail) Ferris, Pierre, SD and Harlan Letteau plus many nieces and nephews. Swede was preceded in death by his parents, Lawrence J. and Louise (Weber) Ferrell, sisters Mary Jo Hirsch and Carol Letteau; father and mother-in-law, Edwin and Emma Ferris. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to Home on the Range or Home Health and Hospice.


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Burial Date: March 10, 2016
Church Stevenson Funeral Home

Funeral Mass: Thursday, Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson, ND