Laurette Monson

Laurette Dorothy Monson, age 84, died Tuesday, December 2, 2014, with several children at her side, at Lilac Homes, Moorhead, MN, where she was blessed with wonderful end-of-life care.
Laurette Dorothy Benoit, the third of nine children of Isadore and Regina Benoit, was born in Olga, ND, on April 9, 1930. She grew up during the Depression years on a wheat farm with a 19th century lifestyle that included speaking French at home, a water pump at the kitchen sink, and an outhouse in the yard. She was raised in a loving Christian family and attended Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and school in Olga. In the early years, the older children rode a horse-drawn stone boat to school in Olga during the winter; with the coming of school buses they attended school in Walhalla, ND.
She attended a business college in 1950 and married Roger Leland Monson on June 27, 1950, in Olga. They made their home in Grand Forks, and later in Wahpeton, Cooperstown, Grafton, and Grand Forks. While raising young children, she contributed to PTA during the early school years. She also worked at the Wally's Super Market (Grafton), Elks Club and Goodman's Home Furnishings (Grand Forks), and Pillsbury Co. (Grand Forks), as well as decorating cakes for many occasions.
Her faith in God sustained her and she raised her children in the love of her Lord Jesus, the power of prayer, and the Holy Rosary. She saw the best in others, and had many close friends who valued her sense of humor, optimism and helpfulness. She applied the self-sufficiency she learned on the farm throughout her life, and with her creative hands she liked to decorate cakes, sew, quilt, carve wood, do ceramics, paint, upholster furniture, and can food from the garden that she loved to tend-as well as fix things around the house and hang wallpaper. She enjoyed entertaining family gatherings with her wonderful cooking. She was a lifelong learner who found time to read in later years. She spent her last years in Fargo at Riverview Place.
Laurette was preceded in death by a sister, Fern; three brothers, Florian, James and Ronnie; and her husband of 59 years, Roger. She is survived by three sisters, Doris, Janet and Janice; a brother, Eddie; six children, Roger (Barb), Brookings, SD, Marcia (David) Wester, Kingsville, TX, Timothy, Moorhead, Mark, Las Vegas, NV, Brian (Luisa), Escondido, CA, and Michael (Beth Weik), Hawley, MN; 10 grandchildren; and 7 great grandchildren.
Visitation for Laurette will be Friday, 6 PM to 7 PM, with a prayer service at 7 PM, in Korsmo Funeral Chapel, Moorhead. Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, at 2 PM, in St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, Dilworth, MN.