De Loris Amber Krapu, 99, of Valley City, ND formerly of LaMoure and Fullerton, ND passed away on 7 August 2023 at SMP Health-St. Raphael Nursing Home (formerly Sheyenne Care Center). De Loris was born to Albin and Della Aune on December 8, 1923 in rural LaMoure County, ND. She attended elementary schools at Litchville, Grand Rapids, and Benson Corner, ND and high school at Delano, MN where she graduated in Spring 1940. De Loris returned to ND after graduation and attended the State Normal and Industrial School at Ellendale, ND where she received her teaching certificate and taught at rural schools near Fredonia in McIntosh County ND and Fullerton in Dickey County ND during 1941-1943. She met and later married Jalmer Krapu on September 23, 1943 and they farmed near Fullerton until his passing on September 2, 1990.
De Loris was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in LaMoure, ND during most of her adult life and was active in the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. She also was active in the Democratic Party in Dickey County for many years serving on election boards, fund raisers, and other activities and was a member of the LaMoure Bowling Association and bowled in a league for many years and was a member of the La Moure Country Club.
De Loris lived at the family’s Dickey County farm for 62 years including 15 years following Jalmer’s death. After Jalmer’s passing De Loris spent winters in LaMoure and Valley City, ND. She loved living at the farm where she could enjoy its tranquility, listen to, and observe the many species of birds and other wildlife present, raise a garden, and grow flowers. In summer, her grandchildren often joined her at the farm.
De Loris and Jalmer received the North Dakota Wildlife Habitat Award from the North Dakota Chapter of the Wildlife Society in 1977 for their “outstanding efforts” in protecting wildlife habitat on their farm. Their primary focus was on a 40-acre tract of mid- and tall grass prairie with tipi rings embedded in the sod marking campsites of indigenous tribes that had inhabited the area from early in the post-glacial period to the 1870s. Ten acres of native and planted trees and shrubs formed the northern border of the site attracting an abundance of wildlife year around. A large granite boulder polished smooth by buffalo (bison) rubbing their hides against the rock over thousands of years underscored the long association bison had with what one day would become the Krapu farm. A deep rut in the prairie sod marked the route of an old wagon trail thought to have linked Grand Rapids and Ellendale at the dawn of the settlement era. John Keep, the first permanent resident of Rosebud (now Porter Township), and a Civil War veteran from Pennsylvania homesteaded on this tract in April 1882.
To the dismay of De Loris and other members of the Krapu family and despite their objection, a longstanding neighbor chose to flood the nature site and an adjacent tract neither of which he owned, to create a reservoir to irrigate crops on his 2 nearby quarters and to rid his property of the water held in wetlands. Surface and subsurface drains he had constructed tripled the size of the original watershed leading to water depths of up to 15 feet on part of the Krapu farm. The wooded area the Krapu family had worked years to establish, and had enjoyed for decades became unsightly tangled piles along with still standing dead trees, tree stumps, and eroded banks, all hazardous to cross. The dense cover that had ensured a healthy pheasant population even after the most severe winters was destroyed along with the excellent pheasant hunting that family members and friends enjoyed for decades. The township road that bordered the nature area also fell victim to the neighbor’s actions permanently leaving the Krapu family without direct access to half of their farm. For the past 26 years, a 6 to 8-mile trip has been required to reach the east quarter which lies only 400 yards from the farmstead.
De Loris continued to live on the farm after Jalmer passed in 1990, and in spring 1997, the 200-acre lake situated just west of the Krapu farmstead rose to its highest elevation in recorded history linked to most wetlands in its watershed having been drained into the lake. As a result, paved Dickey County Highway 62 became inundated for the next 4 years. De Loris, in her mid-70s, for the first time in 54-years of living on the farm was left without a road to exit the farm. Not to be deterred, she blazed a trail for three-quarters of a mile across fields to the nearest unflooded section of Highway 62. She continued to rely on this trail until the late summer of 2000, when the road grade had been raised several feet using fill taken from her land and that of another neighbor. In 2005, now in her 80s, De Loris moved to Valley City to be near her son Gary.
De Loris enjoyed traveling with her family and friends as opportunities arose. A few highlights included the family’s first trip to the West Coast over Christmas 1950 when they traveled on a DC3 from Jamestown to the West Coast to visit relatives. Air travel at the time meant they shared the ride with stacks of mail and packages inside a cold passenger compartment but the beauty and mild climate of the Pacific Northwest made the trip well worth the inconvenience. Thereafter trips were made with family and friends throughout the Tri-State area and to other parts of the country. Being a country western music fan, De Loris and her sister Gloria visited Nashville and toured the Grand Old Opry and later they went on a Caribbean Cruise together. The highlight of De Loris travels was a trip to Norway with her sisters Gloria and Margie in 1992. They spent 2 weeks visiting relatives in the Trondheim area, the ancestral home of her family. De Loris was very impressed with the beauty, history and people of Norway and often talked about her trip.
De Loris possessed a special fondness for the Fullerton community where her son Gary attended grade and high school from 1950 to 1962. She regularly attended various school events including basketball games where she enjoyed watching her son play. She seldom missed special events at Fullerton such as the annual Threshing Bee while still living on the farm. De Loris was an excellent cook and enjoyed participating in the annual pie baking contest which she won on occasion along with participating in other community activities.
De Loris was widely known for her warm sense of humor which she maintained throughout her long life. She retained a keen memory of events to nearly the time of her death. Until failing eye sight and arthritis in her hands made rapid calling difficult in her mid- 90s, she was a regular participant and winner of the morning quiz on KOVC Radio.
De Loris is survived by her son Gary Krapu (Madeline Luke), Valley City, ND; 2 grandchildren, Amy (Brad) Dockter, Fargo, ND, and Chris (Judy) Krapu, Durham, NC; 6 great grandchildren, and several nephews and nieces. De Loris was preceded in death by her parents, husband Jalmer, granddaughter Anne and grandson Jeff, and 4 sisters, Arlyle (Del) Danielson, Marjorie Aune, Joyce (Paul) Diemert, and Gloria (Dean) Becker.
The family wishes to thank the Staff at SMP Health – St. Raphael (formerly Sheyenne Care Center) in Valley City for their compassionate care and especially to those that made a special effort to improve the quality of her life during the 9 years spent there and to staff of the Hospice of the Red River Valley for their compassionate care during the last months of her life. De Loris deep faith helped to sustain her throughout her life and she remained compassionate and caring to the end. Her son was at her bed side at the time of her passing.
A funeral and celebration of De Loris life will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Valley City, North Dakota at 10:30 AM on September, 1st 2023. A lunch will be served at the church after the service. Graveside services will be held at 2:00 PM that same afternoon at Maple View Cemetery near Fullerton, North Dakota, where she will be buried next to her husband.
Dahlstrom Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.