Mary Rodakowski, 97, a longtime resident of Billings County, died peacefully Monday evening, on May 21, 2012 at St. Joseph’s Hospital & Health Center, Dickinson. A Mass of Christian Burial for Mary will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 26, 2012 at the Church of St. Bernard, Belfield with Fr. Shannon Lucht as the celebrant. Interment will take place at the St. Bernard’s Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Ladbury Funeral Service with a rosary at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue one hour prior to services at the church on Saturday. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the DSU Foundation to the Mary Dolyniuk Rodakowski scholarship fund.

Mary Dolyniuk was born December 2, 1914 northeast of Belfield in Stark County to parents Wasyl “James” and Jaga “Agnes” (Miłoch) Dolyniuk. She was the eldest daughter in a family of eleven children, and as was the custom at that time, she was an active care giver for her brothers and sisters as she herself grew into adulthood.

Her experience in the first-grade class was a challenge because she initially could not speak English, but she went on to graduate from Belfield High School in 1933 as salutatorian. Mary subsequently took the N.D. State Teachers’ exam in 1935 (even though she had not attended college), passing all sections of the test and achieving a perfect score in the mathematics portion. Her goal of educating herself and others, however, was just beginning. Her experience back in her own first grade class as a non-English speaker undoubtedly influenced her first teaching assignment. Out of Mary’s 19 students, four first graders could not speak English. This school was in Billings County at Ukraina School #4 — a one room school building in a rural setting. As was usual at that time, the school was an uninsulated building with no electricity and with no plumbing. The teacher had the responsibility to stoke the coal furnace that stood in the middle of the room — and January of 1936 recorded a low of -47 degrees. What a way to start!

Mary took summer classes and challenged classes at Dickinson State Teachers College and earned her Elementary Teaching Standard in 1958 and her BSEE in 1977. Before her retirement from teaching in 1981, she had credits toward a Master’s degree. Mary was a teacher in North Dakota elementary schools for thirty-six years, educating students in schools in Billings and Stark counties and finishing her teaching career with twenty-three years in Belfield.
Mary married Emil Rodakowski in 1940 after meeting him at a barn dance. She and Emil farmed north east of Belfield in Billings County and raised a family of eight children. Emil died in 1986, but Mary continued to live on her farm still doing farm chores and maintaining her home until her passing.

Mary always enjoyed an active life, keeping abreast of many topics even though raising a family, teaching school and working on the farm were time-consuming endeavors. Mary was an avid reader who especially enjoyed politics and loved to discuss her belief that the US, as a government and as a people, must be committed to caring for all its citizens. Mary voted in every presidential election including and after the first election for Franklin Roosevelt. Mary also knew her North Dakota birds, grasses and flowers, and farm animals and was a green consumer before “going green” was popular. Her active life and curiosity extended beyond North Dakota too. In the summer of 1939 Mary drove her 1937 Chevrolet with a college group to New York City to attend the World’s Fair and to visit Washington DC. In 1984, at the age of 69, she hiked in and out of the Grand Canyon and in 1987, at the age of 72, she white-water rafted the Snake River.

Mary was preceded in her death by her husband Emil and her sons Emil Patrick and Norbert Neil, but is survived by her six children: Ken (Gloria), Eugene, Ore.; daughter-in-law Diane, Lenore, Idaho; Ron (Libbie), Belvidere, Ill.; Harold (Julie), Rochester, Minn.; Marcia, Clinton, Mich.; Noel, Poplar Grove, Ill. and Gloria Brown, Las Cruces, N.M. In addition she has 13 grandchildren, Andrea Groh, Duane, Bernadet, Angie Holtski, Emily Donaldson, Bill, Nadia Krivickova, Tom, Natalie, Randall, Juleen, Sarah and Ryker; and ten great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She also survived by her sister Ann Dolyniuk, Belfield, brothers Philip, Belfield and Andrew, Glendale, Ariz.

Mary always gave unconditional love and support to her family. She was known for her strength, positive attitude and determination. Please join the family of Mary Rodakowski in this final farewell to a great wife, mother, grandmother and friend.