Bismark, ND – Milan Edward Ward, 101, went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Sunday, January 8, 2023. He was currently residing at Missouri Slope Washington in Bismarck, ND.

Funeral service will be held on Friday, January 13, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. (CST) with visitation at 1:00 p.m. at the Living Hope Church of the Nazarene, 1826 N 8th St, Bismarck ND. 

Interment with military honors will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bismarck.

Milan was the middle child of nine brothers and sisters born to Thomas and Emily Belle Livingston Ward. He was born in a log cabin located on the Belle Prairie homestead near Intake, Montana on June 26, 1921. He completed eight grades at a one-room school house in Stipek, Montana, before attending and graduating from Dawson County High School in Glendive, Montana in 1941. 

His first real job was working for the Northern Pacific Railroad until he was drafted in July of 1942 to serve in the Air Force during World War II.

Milan’s basic training was at Shepherd Field Air Corp Base in Texas, where he learned about glider airplanes. After his training, he was sent to Miami, Florida where the Air Force was experimenting with glider planes that could hold 25 people. After a few months, Milan was stationed in Washington, DC to retrain as an airplane mechanic, later becoming an aerial engineer and helped to fly passengers including various state and federal secretaries and dignitaries. Milan later became a flight engineer helping to fly supplies in a C-47 cargo plane to the Air Force men stationed in Greenland from Westoner Field, Massachusetts. He finished his deployment in 1949 with the Air Transport Command’s 503rd AAF Base Unit stationed in Washington D.C. as a staff sergeant and continued in the Air Force reserve unit for three more years.

Milan married Dorothy Mae Hines on January 18, 1946, while he was stationed in Washington DC. They returned to Montana where their two children were born. Milan went to work for the Northern Pacific Railroad for 26 years before retiring. He then went to work for the Youth Correctional Center in Mandan, North Dakota, for 18 years as the Chief Engineer at the boiler building on the campus.

Milan loved the outdoors. His interests were many such as gardening, traveling, camping, fishing and ice fishing, not to mention all types of bird and wild animal hunting, especially up in the mountains of Montana with his brothers. Milan was a humble man with a fun-loving twinkle in his eye. Always on the go and eager to help anyway he could. Grandpa Milan loved to wrestle with his grandchildren, teaching them to fish, garden, sledding on the ice while ice fishing and driving around on the riding lawn mower. He and Dorothy loved God and their faith and church were a big part of their lives. They were married for 73 years. Some of the big highlights during their life span were a trip to Jerusalem, helping to build churches, and Milan getting to take a trip with the Bismarck Honor Flight to Washington DC to see the many war memorials.

Milan is survived by his daughter Joylynn (David) Schulte, Fargo; daughter-in-law Cindy (Thomas) Ward, Minneapolis, MN; sister-in-laws Martha Satterwhite and Louise Hines of Henderson, NC and Betty Lou Ward of Livingston, MT; five grandchildren: Jason (Amanda) Schulte, Chantilly, VA; Pamela (Dr Jonathan) Eklof, Minneapolis, MN; Nancy (Scott) Davidson, Fargo, ND; Jessica (David) Evenson, Mesa, AZ; Craig (Lisa) Ward, Burnsville, MN. And ten great-grandchildren: Nathaniel, Collin, Emrie, Odin, Iva, Nicole, Morgan, Amber, Autum, and Tyler; along with several nieces and nephews.

Milan was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy; son, Thomas (Tom); his parents; four brothers and four sisters; and several sisters- and brothers-in-law. 

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Milan E. Ward, please visit our flower store.

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Ronald Olmsted, 87, passed away on January 12, 2023.  Memorial services will be held Friday Jan. 20 at 10:30 a.m. at the Bismarck Funeral Home.  The service will be livestreamed on the Bismarck Funeral Home website under Ronald’s obituary.  Internment will take place at 1 p.m. at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the North Dakota Veterans Home Foundation, contacting them at 701-683-6500 or via email at ndvh@nd.gov.

Ronald Duane (Welder) Olmsted was born on March 31, 1935, to George and Katherine (Kary) Welder at the family home on Sweet Avenue in Bismarck. When he was 2 years old, his father died unexpectedly.

Young Ronnie and his mother moved back to the home of her parents George and Elizabeth Kary in Mandan for five years with Katherine’s younger siblings who were like his brothers and sisters. Some of those aunts and uncles were younger than him.

On September 7, 1940, Katherine married Charles E. Olmsted who raised Ron as his own going so far as to adopt him. After that, Ron lived most of his life in Bismarck where he enjoyed hunting, fishing, baseball and softball.

Among his childhood highlights was getting to meet his sports idol New York Yankee great Babe Ruth in 1947. A 12-year-old Ron was among a group of about 50 Bismarck-area kids and adults who greeted the retired Sultan of Swat when his plane had a brief stopover at the Bismarck Airport. Ron proudly received the Babe’s autograph.

Although he was small for his age, Ron would not let that stop him from excelling in sports. For example, he struck out many Junior Legion baseball opponents when he stood on the mound. His skills at the bat kept Bismarck on the scoreboard as well. His mother Katherine often said, “Ronnie was a stick!” in reference to his hitting skills.

When Ron was 16, Bismarck was favored to win the 1951 North Dakota state Junior Legion baseball tournament. That event allowed him to compete against two future professional athletes. One was Wahpeton’s “huge-man-among-boys” pitcher Steve Myhra who later played NFL football with the Baltimore Colts. The other was some guy called Roger Maris from Fargo Shanley who, of course, later achieved stardom with the New York Yankees. Bismarck took second place when most of the team could not hit Myhra’s pitches in the championship game. Though they lost, Ron went 3 for 4 against Myhra in that final contest. Ron recalled that Myhra “dusted” him in his last at-bat.

Later when he played amateur baseball, Ron participated in an exhibition game against a team featuring Satchel Paige, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Ron did not fare well against Page, who still had plenty of juice in his arm even though he was close to 50 years old.

Ron also was proud of his fastpitch softball playing days, which included a stint with the renowned Roosevelt Bar team of Bismarck.

After graduating from Bismarck High School in 1953 he attended Bismarck Junior College (BJC) for two years which, at the time, resided on the top floor of the high school. After graduating from BJC in 1955, Ron joined the U.S. Army, serving two years in Japan during the peacetime era between the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Upon his return stateside, Ron worked at Sioux Sporting Goods and later Sherwin-Williams in Bismarck. In 1961, he married Darlene Roll at St. Vincent’s Catholic Church in Mott, North Dakota. That union gave the world his three sons: Mark, Monte, and Kent.

In 1970, Ron returned to college at Dickinson State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in education. While studying there in his mid-30s, he made two interesting choices. Ron initially stayed in the dorm (bad idea), and he played baseball with a bunch of 20-year-olds as teammates (good idea). While serving as catcher for the baseball team, Ron earned the nickname “Grandpa” from his teammates.

Upon graduating from college, Ron returned to Bismarck and served as a substitute teacher. He also worked at Vantine’s Paint and Glass. Ron soon joined the North Dakota Highway Department, where he worked for many years first in personnel and later as a civil rights officer. Ron also was a longtime member of the Bismarck-Mandan Elks Club.

He spent most of his retirement in Bismarck until moving to the North Dakota Veterans Home in Lisbon in 2014 where he spent the remainder of his life. He died there on Jan. 12. Ron was preceded in death by his parents George Welder, Katherine Olmsted and Charles Olmsted.

Surviving family members include his sons Mark (Christine), Monte and Kent along with grandchildren Dylan, Vincent and Sarah; brothers Charles (Gloria) and Gary (Shirley); sisters Joann (Carl) Copeland, Judy (Steve) Nelson and Vicky (Allen) Weisenburger plus numerous nieces and nephews.

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