Frances Bender

Frances Bender, 96, died June 26, 2018, at Prospera on Sunset Drive in Mandan.  Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 2, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Mandan, with the Rev. Shane Campbell as celebrant.  Burial will be at the Mandan Union Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 1, at Weigel funeral home with a prayer service at 7:00 p.m.  Visitation will continue one hour before the service at the church on Monday,

July 2.

Frances was the oldest daughter of 13 children of Andrew and Anna (Hoffman) Eckroth and was born August 13, 1921.  She was raised and educated in St. Anthony.  She married John Bender November 21, 1939, in St. Anthony and they farmed in the area.  Later they made their home in Mandan.  Frances was a stay-at-home mom and an excellent cook.  She was a cook at St. Joseph School during the years her last daughter was in high school.   She and John travelled out to California, Nevada, and Washington to visit family throughout the years.  John died in 2005 and Frances lived alone in her house another eight years before moving to independent living at Crescent Manor in Bismarck.  She spent the last year at Prospera on Sunset where she was taken very good care of.

She will be missed by her son, Robert, Bismarck; daughters, Shirley Hruby, Renton, Washington, and Dorothy Martin, Mandan; daughter-in-law, Francine Bender (special friend, Tom Chaussee), Las Vegas, Nevada; ten grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren; one sister, Lucy Bosch, and two brothers, Paul and Jacob Eckroth; and in-laws Judy Eckroth, Irene Gumke, and Mark Stein.  She was predeceased by her parents, husband John, son Norman, sons-in-law Mitchell Hruby and Micheal Martin, and two infant daughters Katherine and Mary; four brothers and five sisters.

To share memories or sign the online guestbook, please go to www.weigelfuneral.com.