Irene Diederich

Irene Diederich, of Fargo, ND, died Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at her home under the care of her family and Hospice of the Red River Valley. Irene (Gunvaldsen) Diederich, a first-generation American, was born December 21, 1924, in Bowbells, North Dakota, the fourth of five daughters born to Osmund and Inga Gunvaldsen. The family moved to Fargo, North Dakota, when Calvin Coolidge appointed her father a United States Marshall. She was a proud Fargo resident from that time forward. Irene graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1942, and attended NDAC. Due to World War II, the fall semester was interrupted so that the students could help the farmers harvest their crops. In the fall of 1945, one of the returning veterans was her future husband, Warren Diederich, who escorted Irene, the Homecoming Queen, to the first Homecoming dance since the war had started. They were married in 1946, and Irene graduated in Home Economics that spring. Irene was a bookkeeper for International Harvester Company and then joined Warren’s painting company as its bookkeeper. In 1953, they founded Industrial Builders, Inc. together, and she was actively involved in building the business, serving as Treasurer for the last fifty-six years. Always a community volunteer, Irene was President of each of her children’s school’s PTAs, served as a state PTA officer and City PTA Council President. She was the backbone of two major school bond issue drives, one for elementary schools south of the Interstate, and one for the future North High School which was on the ballot two times before it passed and earned her the nickname “Mrs. Bond Issue”. As a member of the Junior Service League, she helped start the “Volunteer Bureau,” and was its first business director. She served as the first female director on the Dakota Bank Board of Directors, and was the first woman chairperson of the Neuropsychiatric Institute Board. Irene served on the Teddy Roosevelt Foundation in Medora for 19 years. Irene and Warren originated the Bison Bidders Bowl to help raise money for their beloved NDSU, and served as co-chairs for 15 years. She was always ready to lend a hand and her creative energy to projects benefiting her alma mater. In 1996, she was named Honored Alumnus. Irene was a lifelong member of First Lutheran Church, the Fine Arts Club, PEO, Gamma Phi Beta, and was one of the charter members of the Fargo-Moorhead Foundation Ambassadors. Over the years, Irene enjoyed playing pinochle, tennis, bowling, golfing, gardening and entertaining their many friends with Warren. She and Warren also enjoyed traveling the world as well as spending time at their Pelican Lake home. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Warren; sisters, Agnes Stevenson, Ruth Herderich, Esther Myhra, and Joyce Hilden. She is survived by her children Michael (Mary); Donn (Kirsten); and Paul (Ellen) Diederich, and Laura (Cole) Carley; grandchildren, Lisa, Ryan, Monica, Brittany, Erik, and Anna Diederich, Sean, Jay and Marcus Carney, and great granddaughter, Lily Carney. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the NDSU Development Foundation, Box 5144, Fargo, ND 58105; Hospice of the Red River Valley, 1701 38th St,. Fargo, ND 58103; or The Associated General Contractors of America Education and Research Foundation, 2300 Wilson Blvd., Suite 400, Arlington, VA 22201. Funeral Service: Saturday, April 25, 2009, at 10:00 AM, at First Lutheran Church, Fargo, ND. Entombment: Riverside Mausoleum, Fargo, ND.