Hazel Achter

Hazel Achter, 94, Fargo, ND, formerly of Wahpeton, ND passed away on Monday, December 26, 2016 at Essentia Health, Fargo. A Funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, January 5, 2017 at 11:00 AM at Elim Nursing Home, Fargo, ND with Fr. Duaine Cote officiating. There will be a visitation with the family one hour prior to the service. Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery, Wahpeton, in the spring. Arrangements are entrusted to Vertin-Munson Funeral Home, Wahpeton, ND.

Hazel was born on February 16, 1922 in Grafton, ND to Murdo and Eva (Perkins) Smith. She grew up and attended school in Hoople, ND and graduated from Hoople High School. She went on to attend school for one year at Mayville State University and went on the next year to NDSCS in Wahpeton.

While she was in Wahpeton she met Raymond Achter. While he was in the US Marines, Raymond and Hazel were united in marriage in Grand Forks, ND on July 27, 1944. The couple then lived in North Carolina where Raymond was stationed until his discharge in February 1946 when they returned to Wahpeton. They then followed Raymond's job with Northern Propane which took them to Wadena, MN and then to Ashland, WI. All the time, Hazel and Raymond were raising their three sons. In 1972, the family moved back to Wahpeton where Ray managed the Kentucky Fried Chicken until he retired in 1977. Hazel and Ray continued to live in Wahpeton until 2006 when they moved to West Fargo to be closer to family. Ray passed away on December 7, 2007 and Hazel continued to live on her own until December of 2013 when she became a resident of Elim Nursing Home, Fargo.

Hazel was a wonderful mother and grandmother who had never been on an airplane, but enjoyed the times spent on their lake place near Park Rapids, MN especially when the family would come.

Hazel is survived by her three sons, Jon (Janna) Achter, Fargo, ND, Gary Achter, Winauma, FL, Richard (Mary Margaret "Peg") Achter, Dillon, MT; her seven grandchildren; and seventeen great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Murdo and Eva Smith, her husband, Raymond Achter, her daughter-in-law, Maureen Achter, and her sister, Donna Steele.