James M Storaker

James Magoris Storaker passed on peacefully during the early morning hours of October 12, 2008, in the company of his family. He was born on April 12, 1910, at home, in Northwood, North Dakota the son of Olaf and Maude (Magoris) Storaker. He spent his early years helping his dad at the family mercantile in Larimore, candling eggs, delivering groceries and helping his dad make lunches for the train crews that passed through town. The depression hit in 1929, the year that he graduated from Larimore High School, which resulted in the family store being sold. On June 23, 1932, he married Minda Hassell, of Tolna, ND, in a back yard ceremony at his dad's home in Larimore. He and Minda ran a Mobil gas station in Larimore until about 1939. From there he and Min moved to Sauk Center where he drove a Pepsi truck for a few years. In 1943 he was drafted into the army. He, Minda, and their daughter Beverly, who was born in 1943, moved to El Paso, TX, then to California where he was stationed. From there the military transferred him to New York, and from there he was sent to England on the Queen Mary , and was then sent to Germany where he served in the Huertgen Forrest campaign. On March 3rd, 1945, he was hit by a German sniper, and suffered a severe wound to his left leg. He was first treated in Paris, France, then in a hospital near London, in England. While being treated there he met Queen Elizabeth as she was touring the hospital. He and the family then returned to Kermpton, where his dad had purchased a Hartz grocery store. Shortly thereafter he and the family moved to Grand Forks where he drove delivery truck for Holsum Bread. In 1946 his son Ronald was born, and he started work at the U.S. Post Office as a clerk. He worked at the money order window there until he retired from the post office in 1970. However, in the meantime, he had bought picture framing equipment and supplies and started his own shop in the basement ofhis home, at 429 Belmont Road, in Grand Forks, in 1957, and developed that into a successful business. He framed literally thousands of pictures, until his second retirement in 1991. He was active in the Masons, and was an active Shriner at Kem Temple in Grand Forks, where he sang with the Chanters at Kem Temple for many years. While there, he was proud to have sponsored a burn victim into one of the Shrine Hospitals. He is a Past Master of Malta Lodge. He was also a lifetime member of the DAV and Elks Club. He is also a long time member of United Lutheran Church in Grand Forks. He is survived by his daughter, Bev (Jon) Hoffmann, and their daughter, Jenifer (Tom) Schmidtke, and Jenifer's sons, Max (7) and Mason (3), and also by his son Ron, and Ron's wife Nancy, and their adult children, Robert Treuer, whose wife is Jody Treuer, and Rob & Jody's children, Mia (13), Robby (11), Madeline (8) and Trey (6), and Annette (Ken) Smith, and their adult daughter Bianca. Bev and her family all live in Sheboygan Wisconsin. Ron and his wife also live in Sheboygan, WI, with Rob Treuer and his family living in Grand Forks. Annette and her husband live in Milton, WI, and Bianca lives in Grand Forks.