Mary Kolling

A Funeral Mass for Mary Kolling, 98, of Bismarck formerly of Dickinson will be held at 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Dickinson with Monsignor Thomas Richter celebrating. Burial will follow at St. Patrick’s Cemetery.

Visitation for Mary will be from 5:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at Stevenson Funeral Home with a rosary being held at 6:00 p.m.

Mary passed away Thursday, January 4, 2024 at Edgewood Dominion in Bismarck.

Mary Kolling was born August 13, 1925 to Anton and Anna (Kudrna) Karsky on a farm near New Hradec.  She attended Saint Peter and Paul School in New Hradec through the 8^th grade, then was the first in her family to attend high school (at Campus High in Dickinson), graduating in 1943.  Mary worked at Montgomery Wards after high school, as a clerk and then as a bookkeeper.

In 1946 Mary married Joe Kolling.  They honeymooned in Yellowstone National Park, Mary’s first venture out of the state of North Dakota. She later became the bookkeeper for Peter Kolling and Son Construction, which later became Kolling Construction, Inc.

Mary was an integral part of Kolling Construction from the 1940’s until she retired in 1988.  She acted as payroll clerk, bookkeeper, and was a de facto office manager.  Together, she and Joe, along with Joe’s dad, brothers and a brother-in-law, guided the company from a small house building operation into a major commercial builder in North Dakota and parts of South Dakota and Montana.  Mary lent a personal touch to the business, which was often remembered and mentioned by business people in the community.

The company sold after Joe’s death, and Mary retired to devote more time to family.  She also increased her volunteer time at Saint Joseph Hospital, finally retiring from that in 2015, having logged thousands (ten thousand to be exact) of volunteer hours in the gift shop and other areas.  Also she knitted baby stocking caps for newborns at the hospital.

Joe and Mary were long time members of Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Dickinson.  Mary was a member of Catholic Daughters and the Saint Ann Study Club.  In 1984, after Kolling Construction built Queen of Peace Catholic Church, they became active members there.

She and Joe enjoyed traveling in later years with family to places all over the country.   They loved going to Ramada conferences when Joe was involved with that business in Dickinson and Williston.  Hawaii, Las Vegas and Reno were favorite stops, as were places where extended family lived.

Family was most important to Mary.  As a mom, she was involved in helping with Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, proms and other activities.  Mary was always a hostess to Karsky and Kolling family gatherings in the Kolling back yard.

She engaged with each of her grandchildren in special ways, lunched and went shopping with them on their birthdays; wrote them poems and crocheted each of them a blanket on their graduations.  And later as new spouses came into the family she welcomed each with a warm embrace.

In 2019 Mary moved to Bismarck to be closer to family, and lived at Edgewood Vista.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe, in 1988; a daughter, Paulette; and an infant daughter, Amy; granddaughter Kris Cowan; by her parents, her sisters Gertrude (Tony) Buresh, Bertha (Albert) Bren, Georgia (Martin) Schmaltz, Martha Karsky, and Clara (Rueben) Munsch; one brother, Tony (Arlene) Karsky; and two infant brothers.

Mary is survived by her son Cal (Sue); son-in-law Bill Cowan; a brother, Dennis Karsky (Arlene); sisters-in-law Ivela Jahner and Agnes Kolling; grandchildren: Brian (Julie) Kolling and Matthew (Kari) Kolling, Laurie Hazelton, Beth Diehl (Adam), Angela Cowan (Collin);   Kolling great grandchildren: Chandler, Joshua, Allison, Emma, and Brielle.  And Cowan great grandchildren: Dain, Maison, Hallee, Ty, Sebastian and Constance; god-daughter Rose Ann Kostelecky and many nieces and nephews.