Wilma Vietz

OBITUARY DEPARTMENT
PICTURE

Wilma (Fueller) Vietz, 82, Bismarck, passed away Monday, July 1, 2019 at Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center, Bismarck. A Memorial Service will be held at 10:00 AM Wednesday, July 10, 2019, at DaWise-Perry Funeral Services, Mandan, with Rev. Harold Chin officiating. Burial will be in the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. Family and friends will gather from one hour prior to the service. Cremation has taken place.

Wilma was born in Romania on December 15, 1936, to Benjamin and Margaret (Weber) Fueller. They moved and lived in Poland thereafter and then returned to West Germany, when Wilma was seven years old, due to World War II threatening their lives on the Eastern-Russian front. Their flight was completed by horse and covered wagon, during the winter, when the rivers were frozen, since all bridges had already been bombed. In accordance to her mother's account, they traveled a route past Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where she stated, "The ashes were as high as mountains". Then in 1952 along with her parents, and Sister Hilda, they came to the United States. They lived in Cumberland, Ohio for a short period of time, before family members from Turtle Lake, ND helped them move and settle in Turtle Lake. She attended school in Turtle Lake and Goodrich, ND to learn the English language. She also maintained employment at the time in Goodrich, ND and was baptized into the Goodrich Seventh Day Adventist Church in April 1956. She met Wayne Vietz, of Denhoff, ND, and they married in April 1957. They moved to a farm, south of Denhoff, prior to moving to Bismarck, ND in 2005, when Wayne's health was failing due to cancer. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2007, in McClusky, ND, where they had taken their wedding vows originally. Wilma became a legalized United States Citizen in 2000.

Wilma loved raising a big garden and did a lot of canning for all those good vegetables. She also liked to bake and cook; her family liked all the German dishes and her kuchen was the best of the best. She was a former member of the Goodrich Seventh Day Adventist Church and helped out in being a Sabbath schoolteacher for the younger children and also served as a deaconess.

She is survived by her son, Jeff Vietz, Bismarck; granddaughter, Jordan Vietz, Lexington, SC; nephew, Heinz Fueller and family, Germany; niece, Claudia Schlienz and family, Germany; and sister-in-law, Erna Fueller, all of Stuttgart, Germany.

Wilma was preceded in death by her husband of 50 years, Wayne Vietz; her parents; Brother Albert Fueller; sister, Hilda Fiedler; and a special nephew, Paul Alexander.

At the time of her passing she was a member of the Bismarck Seventh Day Adventist Church; she will be missed by many who knew her. A special mention to all the Fueller family members, who helped this family find a safe life in Turtle Lake, ND