Pauline Diede

Funeral Services for Pauline Diede, 99, of Hebron, will be 2:00 p.m. CDT, Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Hebron with Pastor Gaylund Olson officiating. Burial will follow at the St. John Cemetery.


Visitation for Pauline will be from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT, Monday, June 27, 2011 at Spangelo-Stevenson Funeral Home in Hebron with a Prayer Service being held at 7:00 p.m. CDT. Visitation will continue from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. CDT, Tuesday at the Chapel.


Pauline passed away Friday, June 24, 2011 at Marion Manor in Glen Ullin, North Dakota.


Pauline Neher Diede, 99, the daughter of Homestead-Immigrant-Settler Ludwig and Christina (Steinert) Neher, was a sod-house product born on October 10, 1911 in a sod-adobe with dirt floor on a “homestead” premise in the rolling-hills country of Mercer County, North Dakota by the bend of the Knife River. She was the third of eight children born to immigrant settler parents, Ludwig and Christina who immigrated from South Russia to the United States in 1908. Pauline graduated from Dickinson Normal School in 1930. She was united in marriage to Jake Diede in 1932. The couple was blessed with three children; Darlayne, Audrey and Rodney. In 1945, the family moved to Hebron where their children were granted education in scout-work, music, school commencement, athletics, and church activity; in which Mother Pauline and Jacob Diede served and participated in many capacities. Mrs. Diede authored five books titled: Homesteading On The Knife River Prairie; The Prairie Was Home; Speaking-out on Sod House Times; North Dakota in Grateful Homage; The Prairie Echoes and Consider God’s Promises. Universities have awe of her works using the frontier material for books like “Far From Home”(University of North Dakota); The German American Album (Oxford University); The Pauline Neher Collection Unit (North Dakota State University); North Dakota Institute of Regional Studies – video; A Homesteader’s Daughter- an audio/visual resume of this prairie-hill author’s life. Pauline Neher Diede was named as the 1995 Communicator of Achievement – her story is a North Dakota “her” story (North Dakota Professional Communicators). She received a certificate and medallion of honorable recognition from the National Federation of Press Women. She was a lifetime native of North Dakota, having raised her family near Custer Lookout Butte and resided in Hebron, ND since 1945. She had been involved with part-time employment at the weekly newspaper, The Hebron Herald, since 1960 – mainly the feature of pioneer stories and as a columnist of The Prairie Echoes since 1970. Pauline lauds and accredits her achievements through the beloved institution of Germans From Russia Heritage Society of which she was a life member. Pauline was a Life-Member of The Germans-From-Russia Heritage Society, (The Vonvater’s Kinder Chapter), a member of three Historical Societies, and had been a 50-year member of Lookout and Hebron Homemakers. Pauline sums up her lifetime motivation and adage precept as “Do something – something that does society and the country some good – all to the glory of God!”


Pauline is survived by her children Darlayne (Myron) Diede Buchli of Rapid City, SD; Audrey (James) Diede Williamson of Littleton, CO; Rodney J. (Dorinda) Diede of Bowman, ND; one sister, Clara Weige, Bismarck, ND; eight grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.


She was preceded in death her parents, Ludwig and Christina Neher; her husband, Jacob Diede; one brother, Edwin Neher and five sisters, Mathilda Diede, Otillia Loritz, Elsie Tilsen, Louise Mayer and Annie Sheldon.


In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the St. John UCC Organ fund or to the Marion Manor.


Click to View Program (PDF)


Burial Date: June 28, 2011
Funeral Home Hebron, ND

Funeral Service: Tuesday: St. John UCC Church, Hebron, ND