Clara M. Dowhaniuk, 85, Belfield, died Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at St. Benedict’s Health Center, Dickinson. Clara’s Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church, Belfield with Fr. Shane Campbell as celebrant. Inurnment will take place at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan. Visitation will be Monday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Ladbury Funeral Service and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the church with a rosary and vigil at 7 p.m.
Clara was the oldest child of 16 born to Andrew and Christine (Hecker) Koch on December 11, 1933 at Grandma Fowler’s house in Dickinson with a doctor’s assistance. The next 12 years were spent living in the Daglum community south of South Heart on a farm her folks inherited from her dad’s father, Dennis Cook, who died in June of 1933 before she was born.
Clara met Alex Dowhaniuk at a dance in Belfield when she was working at Pete’s Café. He was on leave from the Air Force and stationed in Alaska. Following his discharge, he returned to Belfield and they continued seeing each other. Clara continued to work at Pete’s Café while he went to Spokane Wash. to attend Telegraphy School. They went together for three years before getting married on September 13, 1955. Following their marriage, they moved to Spokane for nine months while he finished school. When he was done with school they returned to Belfield and he began working at Burlington Northern Railroad as an extra working up and down the line between Dickinson and Billings Mont. They moved to Terry, Mont. for nine months until a permanent position opened up in Belfield. They returned to Belfield and bought a lot and moved a trailer house on it where she had lived the rest of her days.
Together they had five children and when she was able worked at the motel in the mornings and at the café in the evenings. She also had worked in the kitchen at the Belfield Public School from 1974 to 1994. She also worked many years at the Parkway Motel and had also had her own cleaning service called “Clara’s Cleaning Service”.
She is survived by five children, Gary (Debbie) Dowhaniuk, Dickinson, Cal (Kim) Dowhaniuk, Dickinson, Pam Evoniuk, Belfield, Kim (Tracy) Nelson, Euless, Texas and Lisa (Tom) Benz, Bismarck; seven grandchildren, Casandra Jablonsky, Kelcie (Cordell) Schaff, Christopher (Nina) Evoniuk, Ashlynn (Brandon) Evoniuk, Mackenzie Nelson, Nichole (Glenn) Dowhaniuk and Megan (Darrick Heinert) Dowhaniuk; six great-grandchildren, Carsen Schaff, Kollin Schaff, Cooper Jablonsky, Brandt Evoniuk, Bailey Evoniuk and Harper Evoniuk; siblings, Wilbert Koch, S.D., Andrew Jr. (Carol) Koch, Columbia Falls, Mont., Paul (Louise) Koch, Creston, Mont., Robert (Connie) Koch, Minn., Thomas (Amy) Koch, Kalispell, Mont., Lorraine Schubert, Roy, Wash., Margaret Millen, Tacoma, Wash., Anne West, Denver, Colo., Polly (Lynn) Inglehorn, Colfax, Wis., Marcella (Jim) Olson, Sentinel Butte, Judy (Bernard) Palahniuk, Fairfield, Cynthia (Maurice) Elhart, Loveland, Colo., Nora (Dennis) Molm, Billings, Mont. and Faye Turner, Columbia Falls; and also many numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Alex on January 9, 2001; her parents; brother, Arnold (Caryl) Koch; grandson, Joshua Dowhaniuk; sister-in-law, Irene Koch; and brothers-in-law, Lee Schubert and Jerry West.
