Mary Haich, 91, Gladstone, died Monday, July 27, 2020 at CountryHouse Residences. Mary’s Private Mass of Christian Burial will at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Dickinson. Interment will take place at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan. There will be a visitation on Friday, July 31 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Ladbury Funeral Service, Dickinson.
Mary Theresa Sickler was born August 4, 1928 in Dickinson, the daughter of Mike and Theresa (Leib) Sickler. She grew up on a farm north of Gladstone. She graduated from high school from St. Mary’s in Richardton, a boarding school ($17/month).
Mary married Felix Haich on September 16, 1947 at St. Phillip’s, Hirschville. They moved onto a homestead north of Gladstone the day after the wedding and farmed for the next 60 years. To this union ten children were born, Judi, Jane, Juanita, Jerome, Jerel, Jeff, Joel, Jarmin, Janel, and Jonathan. Mary was true a farm wife. Felix said “she will never be able to drive straight; the rows would be too crooked to harvest.” But she did a lot of cultivating on tractors, and harvesting on combines. She did much of the milking of 50 or more cows twice a day along with help from her family. They sold milk and cream to supplement farming. Mary planted petunias from seeds her grandmother brought from Hungary. Her grandmother always said, “every woman needs flowers”. Mary canned nearly 600 quarts (fruits, vegetables, meat) every summer to help feed her large family.
She was a member of the state horticultural club with Felix. She was one of 16 mothers who started the first thrift store (ARC) in Dickinson to aid the mentally and physically challenged. Mary volunteered there for 16 years. With her children grown, she was in the Catholic Daughters for years, was a Hospice Volunteer for 16 years, helped with the first Habitat for Humanity House in Dickinson, volunteered at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Holy Hours for many years, played cards with prisoners, visited shut-ins, and helped with nursing home coffee hour with her son Jarmin for many years. She also enjoyed outings with Red Hat Society.
She and Felix traveled to all 50 states and ten countries.
Mary is survived by daughters, Judi (Dan) Erickson, Des Moines, Iowa, Jane (Paul) Larson, Watford City, Juanita (Jeff) Yeager, Omaha, Neb., and Janel (Barney) Tomanek, Dickinson; sons, Jerome (Debbie), Gladstone, Jerel, Marshall, Texas, Jeff (Vicky), Joel (Mickie), and Jarmin, all of Dickinson, and Jonathan (Shelly) Bailey, Colo.; 26 grandchildren; and 35 great-grandchildren.
Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Felix; her parents; two brothers, Michael and Andrew; and her only sister, Ann Duda.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Heartland Hospice, North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, and the ARC.
