Elmere Kramer

Elmere Kramer was born Elmere Martineau on April 3, 1922 to an Irish mother, Margaret Wills, and a French Canadian father, Lorenzo Martineau. She grew up on a farm outside of Pembina, North Dakota, the oldest of 13 children. Elmere attended Pembina schools and graduated from Pembina High School. While her parents lived in Kensal, she met Raymond Kramer. Both being the oldest in large families, they had much in common. Later, Elmere worked in a potato warehouse. Then she went to St. Paul to work at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company and enjoyed selling hats in a department store in Minneapolis. Elmere started corresponding with Ray and then he joined the Navy during WWII. They got to know each other even better through the barrage of letters going back and forth between them. When he arrived in California after the war, they were very excited to reunite and were married on November 3, 1945. They bought a farm in Kensal, North Dakota and raised livestock, corn, wheat, oats, and five children. They had wonderful get-togethers with their parents, all their siblings, and their children for the many years they lived there. Elmere was an incredible helper for her husband on the farm, an awesome cook, and a talented seamstress. When they purchased The Corner Lounge in Pembina in 1970, she became the bookkeeper until Ray's death in 1983. Elmere then moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota and continued to be the best mother and grandmother possible. Elmere is survived by daughters Wanda (Earl) Wagner, Bev (Tom) Wirtzfeld, and Kerry (Miles) Koppang; sons Dennis (Joyce) Kramer and Joel (Connie) Kramer; grandsons Michael (Jennifer) Wagner, Adam (Rita Panton) Wirtzfeld, Richard, Tony, and Chase Kramer; granddaughters Kelsey (Steve Smith) Wirtzfeld, Ashley Kramer and Darby (Tim Wilroth) Koppang; and great grandchildren Adyson and Caden Wilroth and Hector Panton Wirtzfeld. She is also survived by seven sisters, Faye Quam, Doris Markel, Frances Sather, Judy (Gary) Hove, Joyce Wosick, Wanda DuRain, and Connie Bushaw; one brother, Bill Martineau; three sisters-in-law, Judy(Marvin) Sund, Lora Jean Klevin, and Arlene Kramer; and one brother-in-law, Kenny (Irene) Kramer.