Ida Lavachek

Ida (Metzger) Lavachek, 99, Bismarck, died July 31, 2012 at the Baptist Home, Bismarck.
A funeral service will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, August 4, 2012 at Calvary United Methodist Church, Bismarck, with Reverend Deanna Reikow officiating. Burial will be at Mandan Union Cemetery.
Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 pm on Friday, August 3 at Buehler-Larson Funeral Home, Mandan, and continue one hour prior the service at the church on Saturday.
Ida was born in Hebron, ND on February 21, 1913 to John and Kathryn (Auch) Metzger. She attended public schools there. Ida left high school at age 15 to home care for her mother and younger sister, Sophie Martha, and to keep house for her father and two remaining brothers at home. She married Deane Lavachek on April 29, 1934 in Hebron, and took high school correspondence courses after her marriage.
She and Deane worked several jobs during the first 20 years of marriage, not having any children. They worked at the Greenville store in Montgomery, MN and lived and worked in California and Washington State during the WW II years.
Ida and Deane managed a Gambles Store. She loved her husband, and wherever his work took him, she willingly followed. They moved back to ND and Deane taught school and farmed with Ida at his side. Ida liked going to barn dances of the era while Deane sat in and played banjo or guitar with the bands. She often said they would stay at the dances until the band "packed it in".
A son, John, was born in 1954 and a daughter, Kathryn, in 1956. Ida was active throughout her life in Carson, ND, in Homemaker's and Ladies Aid clubs. She was involved in Farmer's Union, Eastern Star, and she taught Sunday school and vacation bible school. Ida sang in ladies' quartets and in the Presbyterian Church Choir. She always made certain that her children had enough money to tithe at church on Sundays. At age 50 she started working for Krause's Super Value in Carson. Her family often traveled to Monarch, MT to visit Deane’s relatives at their cabin in the beautiful Montana Mountains.
The family moved to Mandan, ND in 1971 and Ida worked for St. Alexius Hospital, and later on at the Mandan Hospital. Ida enjoyed dancing, canning and preserving, baking, making homemade bread, cooking, crafts, gardening, knitting and sewing. She also loved to hear John whistle.....saying it reminded her of her dad.
She enjoyed going to the mall with her niece, Mildred. Throughout her later years, she often, without knowing it, over coffee, lunches or family gatherings dispensed valuable 'life lessons' and advice to her nieces, nephews, and children. She instructed her daughter in sewing, knitting, baking, and things she deemed necessary. She always enjoyed welcoming people to her home for coffee, visits, and meals.
Many loved her wisdom, kindness, gentleness, compassion, and unconditional 'German' love. She often cooked stew, chicken, or roasts for John's travels back and forth from Fargo to Bismarck while he lived in Fargo.
Her hair turned white in her later years, and the comment most people would say to her was "You have such beautiful hair" and it gave her enjoyment. She always rode exercise bike well into her late 80’s. Ida always had her daughter apply makeup to go out to her various appointments or lunches, wanting to look her best.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Deane in 1999, her parents, five brothers and two sisters. She is survived by daughter, Kathryn (Michael D.) Nilles, Bismarck and son, John Lavachek, Bismarck.