Ardella Ronson

Ardella Ronson died peacefully Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at Sanford Health, Fargo, after a long illness.

Ardella was born to Daniel and Pauline (Ketterling) Rudolf on June 28, 1940, in Wishek, N.D. She graduated from Wishek High School in 1958 and attended Jamestown (N.D.) College.
Though she never moved back, she kept Wishek and her German roots close.

A lover of the outdoors, Ardella spent summers working at resorts in Yellowstone and other parks and resorts for years. In 1964 she met Eric Ronson when they both worked at a resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. Though they moved around the country together, they were married on May 14, 1966 at First Lutheran Church in Fargo.

After working in Florida and New York, they moved to Fargo-Moorhead in 1969. In 1971, they bought a house in the Island Park neighborhood that would be home to their growing family for five decades.

While Eric worked as a chef at the Fargo Country Club, Ardella raised the kids and made the house a warm and welcoming home. She showed her Wishek ways around the kitchen, baking fantastic breads, English muffins, pies in the summer and kuchen in the fall.

She worked for the Fargo Public Schools from 1979 to 2005, starting off as a “lunch lady” and playground monitor at Hawthorne Elementary, ruling with authority and a megaphone. In the late 1980s she would also work at St. John Lutheran Church, Fargo, where she also worshipped and was very active, singing in the choir and solos for funerals and weddings.

Music was important to Ardella and she passed on that love for music to her children. While she may not have always appreciated their tastes, she insisted they learn to play an instrument.
Ardella had an iron will and was a force to be reckoned with. Likewise, she was generous and welcoming, hosting family, friends and all of her children’s friends who made her house their second home. She had a sharp wit and loved to joke and laugh with others.

Ardella was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her husband, Eric; her three children, Daniel (Helen) Ronson of Seongnam, Korea; Kyle (Brenda) Ronson of Lake Worth, FL.; and Charlotte Ronson of Fargo. She loved her four grandchildren: Hannah of Seongnam, Korea; Ian and Lauren of Lake Worth, FL and Josephine of Fargo.

She is also survived by siblings, Farrell of Lakeland, MN; McLoyd (Rose) of Winnemucca, NV; Volveriene Radliff of Fort Collins, CO; Homer of Richmond, VA; Wayne (Minta) of Sparks, NV; Lincoln (Ginny) of Fargo and Paulette Rudolf of Fort Collins, CO.

In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to St. John Lutheran Church, which Ardella loved so much.