Becky Jo Ortiz

Becky Jo Ortiz, 70, Minot, North Dakota, passed away Saturday, April 29, 2017, at Vibra Hospital of North Dakota, Mandan. A memorial service will be held 2:00 PM, Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at First Lutheran Church, Minot. Private burial was held in the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan.

Becky was born in Williston on December 3, 1946, to C. Marvin and Bertha Olson of Wildrose. She grew up in Wildrose, and graduated from high school in 1964. She attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and completed the two-year training program for Parish Workers. She pursued that vocation until enrolling in Valley City State College, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education.

Becky taught kindergarten in Poplar, Montana, for two years and then began a career teaching dependents of military personnel in Department of Defense Schools in Germany. While teaching in Germany she met her future husband, Edward Ortiz who was serving in the U.S. Army. They returned to the United States and were married in the summer of 1977. She continued her teaching career at an elementary school on the Minot Air Force Base. After her retirement from teaching, she returned to a career she really loved, working as a Parish Worker at First Lutheran Church in Minot. She retired from that career in December of 2016.

Becky was a kind and gentle person who was devoted to her family and practiced her deep faith by serving others in her church and in the community.

She is survived by her husband Edward, daughter Stephanie (special friend Justin Myhre), and son Peter, all of Minot; two brothers, Owen (Roberta) Olson, Rolla, and Claire (Elaine) Olson, Bismarck; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and brother, Gene Olson.