Bernell I. Bachmeier

***To watch a recording of the service, please use the link: https://youtu.be/VvbTH8rHFT8 Bernell Bachmeier, 88, a resident of Grand Forks, ND, passed away in her sleep at Valley Senior Living on December 6th, with loving family near by. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, a private family funeral service will be held at Amundson Funeral Home, with interment to follow at Vang Cemetery in Fergus Falls, MN. A Celebration of Life Service will be held later this spring or early summer. Bernell Ione Twedt was born on June 19th, 1932, in Fergus Falls, MN to Isabella (Haugen) and Bernhard Twedt where they lived on a farm outside of Underwood, MN. She grew up with her younger sister Benora. They both attended school district 231 in rural Underwood and graduated from Underwood High School. After high school Bernell attended and graduated from the Sisters of St. Joseph School of Nursing of Carondolet. Her first job was at the hospital in Maddock, ND where she worked for about a year. On April 18th in 1952, Bernell met the love of her life. At a dance party being held at the Deaconess Hospital in Grand Forks, ND, she found herself dancing most of the dances with an intelligent and handsome college student who also happened to be a good dancer. His name was Thomas Bachmeier. This began a life of love together and Bernell was married to Tom on November 26th, 1954. After marriage she worked at St. Michaels Hospital in Grand Forks for a number of years while Tom was attending graduate school. They had three children while in Grand Forks with the names of Kathleen, Terry and Mary. Unfortunately the eldest, Kathleen, died shortly after birth. After Tom graduated from UND they moved to Mayville, ND where Bernell worked at the Luther Memorial Home for 7 years while Tom was hired as a professor at Mayville State College (now MSU). There they had 5 more children; Jerold, James, Michael, John and Jeffry. She worked at the Union Hospital in Mayville until 1973. Then in August of that same year she began her work at the Medical Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Forks until retirement in ’94. Bernell was the first nurse in ND to become Certified as a Rehabilitation Nurse. For about 15 years Bernell drove to work from Mayville to Grand Forks until they eventually made the move to GF. Bernell took courses from the University of ND while she worked at the Rehab. She picked up a BSN (Bachelor of Science) in Nursing from UND in 1989. While being a Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse, Bernell had also been active in her professional nurses' organization. She assisted in writing books in professional nursing and helped write the first national board of nursing exam. She had been active in her organization at the local, state and national levels. She has attended many local, state and national meetings. After her “retirement” she took a course in early ’95 at Concordia College in Moorehead, MN to become a Parish Nurse. She also became a “snowbird” and would spend her winters in her “2nd house” with family in Arizona. Bernell was active in the Mayville Lutheran Church in Mayville and Sharon Lutheran Church in Grand Forks while she lived in each city. She traveled to Norway multiple times and attended University Norwegian history courses for several months at times in Norway. She was a long time member of the Sons of Norway and in Solorlag (which celebrates their ancestry in local districts in Norway). Early family life included many fun camping trips in the big old red wood-sided station wagon full of excited kids while pulling the home-made camper with the home-made luggage topper clamped to the roof of the wagon. Bernell would like to say her bags are always packed and ready to travel. She would love to visit her grandchildren and great-grandchildren spread around the United States. She enjoyed knitting, crocheting, baking, cooking and some of her favorite activities were making lefse with her lefse committee and having tea parties with her great-granddaughters. She also loved to spend time at family reunions, visiting with cousins, nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren. Bernell is preceded in death by her parents Isabella and Bernhard, her husband Tom, her sister Benora (Norbert) Jonason and her daughters Kathleen and Mary (Ed) Birmingham. Mary had lived in Chicago with her Birmingham family. She is survived by her sons Terry, Mesa, AZ, Jerold, Bloomington, MN, James (Sheila) Salem, OH, Michael (Linda) Mesa, AZ, John (Yvette) Bethpage, NY and Jeffry (Dana) Mayville, ND, and her brother in law, Fr Ben Bachmeier (San Diego, CA) a retired Catholic Priest who is the sole surviver of Tom’s 12 siblings. Father/Uncle Ben has presided in many family events and activities over the years. She also leaves behind many nieces, nephews and over 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.