Fay R. Hopewell Tangen

April 7, 1935 – April 10, 2009

Submitted by Deborah F. Tangen, daughter

This quilt block is in memory of a wife, mother, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend…Fay Ronelle Hopewell Tangen

Fay was born in Lisbon, ND on April 7, 1935, the youngest daughter and second youngest of six children born to Guy and Emma (Kern) Hopewell. She grew up in a loving family on farms near Englevale and Sheldon, North Dakota, and attended high school in Lisbon. Fay met Neil O. Tangen at a dance there, where it was basically love at first site, marrying each other on June 6, 1954. After living in Fargo for a year, they moved to the homestead farm where Dad grew up, southeast of Kathryn, ND. They were blessed with eight children, three girls and five boys, the first of which was their first son, Daniel, who died from heart complications at 4 ½ months of age. In addition, Fay and Neil have 22 grandchildren (one of whom drowned in a lake this past July 3, Annie Arbuckle) and five great-grandchildren so far. All of us loved her very much!

Fay was well known for her motherly touch with small children, and for her hospitality and good home cooking! No one ever went hungry when around the Tangen household! Fay also worked for a greenhouse in Valley City for over twenty years, and loved to plant flowers every spring to display outdoors at home! She also worked for the Dairy Queen in Valley City until she suffered the initial stroke in December 2007.

Many people cared for and admired her. And she is terribly missed by us all!

June 6, 2009 would have been their 55th wedding anniversary, but it wasn’t to be. Mom had suffered a stroke in December of 2007 and experienced some complications over the next year and four months. She had a heart attack at the family farm on April 10, 2009…Good Friday, amidst the flooding of the Sheyenne River.

In addition to her loving family, Fay chose to be a donor if and when something might happen to her. We were told that her tissue and bone donations helped over sixty people to have a better chance at recovery! Her donation has been an inspiration to many to become donors as well. There is not greater loving act than to help give life back to others, and we are proud of her for taking that great step!