Carol Schwan Obituary

Carol L. Schwan, 83, Minot, passed away Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in a Minot hospital.
Surrey, ND – Carol Lou Schwan, age 83, passed away peacefully on July 1, 2025 surrounded and supported by her close family.
Carol was born April 28, 1942, as the fourth child (of five) of Marcus and Dorothy (Tompkins) Effertz. She graduated from Bishop Ryan High School in Minot, ND and in 1961 she married her high school sweetheart, Robert ("Bud" or "Bob") Schwan. Carol and Bob had three children; Dale (Lorilyn) Schwan, Karen (Mike) Schwan Holman and Patrick (Colleen) Schwan.
Carol and Bob, along with their young family, moved multiple times over a handful of years while Bob worked for Boeing. They lived in several cities including Grand Forks, ND; Rapid City, SD; Cheyenne, WY; Sedalia, MO; and Minot, ND. After completing the Boeing stint the Schwan family returned to Minot. In 1974 they built a new house near the farmstead Carol had grown up on south of Surrey, ND. Carol, along with her father Mark, were "very involved" in the building of the new Schwan home. She always enjoyed a project, and this was a big one. She made the house unique in many ways.
Carol started college later in life, attending college with all three of her kids. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Dakota Northwestern University (MSU), a Bachelor of Arts from Minot State College, and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from UND Grand Forks. After a brief period in financial planning, Carol discovered her true calling and excelled in medical clinic administration. She dedicated over 30 years to this demanding field, managing and administering various clinics. Her career included managing the UND Family Practice Clinic in Minot, Western Dakota Medical Group in Williston, Williston Basin Eye Clinic, and Trinity Medical Group in Minot. She concluded her distinguished career at Johnson Clinic in Rugby. At every institution, Carol poured her whole entire being into ensuring the success of the enterprise, often in difficult business circumstances. She was deeply respected in her field and built many dear friendships with clinic staff, peers, and physicians at all of her work locations.
Carol had many interests and she seldom sat still as she liked to keep busy, often late into the evening or early morning. She learned to sew as a teenager because she was so tall and finding clothes that fit was very difficult. She liked to sew for herself and family, including costumes for kids and grandkids. She was always ready to re-size a favorite garment that needed modification to fit just right. She enjoyed gardening and her many flowers located in various locations throughout the big yard. Gardens mean fruit and vegetables to pick, process, can and/or freeze. We have many fond memories of the entire family working to harvest/process corn, can pickles and make salsa. Carol made salsa in huge quantities every autumn, which she shared generously with many visitors.
Carol had musical ability and she enjoyed playing the piano. The old-fashioned exercise of gathering the whole family to sing around the piano may have fostered the musical abilities and careers of Carol's kids and grandkids. She truly enjoyed attending and supporting her kids and grandkids in any and all of their various events. From the time they were little, up until the end, she attended their musical performances whenever possible.
Genealogy was a huge interest for Carol, and she spent considerable time researching the Effertz family history starting back in the 1970's when genealogy was much more difficult. Since there was no internet, there were many letters, phone calls, document research, library visits and other methods to search out family history. She has mountains of documents collected over the years and was successful in tracing some histories back to the 1600's and possibly earlier. She made several trips to track down and visit with relatives in Germany and other locations in Europe. A major achievement in 2017 was Carol's production of a unique book of Effertz family history and photos which she shared with many close and distant relatives. She also organized, scanned, and documented the family details related to 10,000+ pictures and related documents. It was truly a passion of hers until the very end.
When her children were young there were many camping trips in ND and one memorable trip to the Missouri Ozarks. There were many red-light fire drills when out hunting for bargains at rummage sales. After graduating high school every child and grandchild received an "Oh Shit" kit that had a small supply of numerous items needed in daily life. Carol will always be remembered for her unlimited love and need for coffee! She would regularly brew a pot of coffee at midnight just for herself. She was known for many unique sayings including the fact that she graduated from the "Effertz School of cupboard stuffing", "what gets wet gets dry", "there's always room for ice cream, it fits in around the edges", "choose up sides and smell armpits". She was always singing about "Yon Yonson in Wisconsin", and "I love you, a bushel and a peck".
Carol and Bob liked to travel and made family trips with siblings to see U.S. Civil War battlefields, the "Four Corners" area of the American southwest, California, Alaska, the northern U.S. and Canadian national parks, and more regional explorations in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. They also traveled with family to China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Turkey, as well as cruising in Russia and the Caribbean. What wonderful memories were generated from those travels!
Carol was a very strong woman. At age 35 when she had three young children, her ulcerative colitis led to emergency surgery that saved her life and left her with medical issues she dealt with graciously over the decades. Ironically, complications of that original bowel emergency were, in perspective, the cause of her passing at age 83.
Those who shared her life include her children: Dale (Lorilyn) Schwan, Karen (Mike) Schwan Holman and Patrick (Colleen) Schwan; her grandchildren: Nicholas, Mallory, Briana, Tyler, and Brady (Brenna) Schwan; her great grandchild Penelope Schwan; her siblings: Joe Effertz, Jeanie (Jim) White, Dr. Susan Effertz (Chuck Kuether), and sister-in-law Arlis (Tim) Effertz; in-laws Jerry Schwan, Joanne (Joe) Feist, Dennis Schwan, Sandy (Kim) Nordstom, Judy Schwan, and many nephews, nieces and other extended family.
Carol was preceded in death by her husband Robert, parents Mark and Dorothy Effertz, brother Tim Effertz, sister-in-law Fran Effertz, her mother and father-in-law Vincent and Barbara Schwan, her sister-in-law and brother-in-law Bernadette and Bob Wright, her brother-in-law Richard Schwan, and sister-in-law Rita Schwan.
Carol shared her life with many, and she will be greatly missed.
Celebration of Life Gathering: Sunday, July 13, 2025, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot.
Prayer Service: Sunday, July 13, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot.
Mass of Christian Burial: Monday, July 14, 2025 at 10 a.m. at St. Leo Catholic Church.
Graveside Service: Monday, July 14, 2025 at 1 pm at Sawyer Community Cemetery, Sawyer ND
Memorials: may be given in Carol's memory to the Mouse River Loop Genealogical Society.
The service will be livestreamed for the public to view and can be accessed by going to Thompson-Larson Funeral Home's YouTube channel at
https://youtube.com/live/Mr72UjuzBRI?feature=share