Ashley, N.D. - Funeral service for Viola Louise Dockter, 90, of Ashley will be 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 10, 2006, at Salem Reformed Church, Ashley. Burial will be 2 p.m. at Venturia Reformed Cemetery at Venturia, N.D. Visitation will be Thursday from 1-7 p.m. at the funeral home. She died Nov. 6, 2006, at the Ashley Medical Center. Viola Louise Weber, daughter of John J. and Louisa (Kraemer) Weber was born Nov. 5, 1916, southwest of Danzig, N.D. She was raised in the Reformed faith. In 1918, her family moved when she was a young child to Danzig, where she completed elementary school. Viola helped her father in his business, a butcher shop, cream buying and grocery store operation and continued to operate the grocery business for one and a half years after his death in 1943. She lived in Arizona and California from 1944 to 1945. During that time she was employed in a Woolworth's store in Stockton, Calif., where she managed her department. She was united in marriage to Calvin Dockter of Venturia on June 17, 1945, at the Ashley Reformed Church. They made their home in Venturia and eventually built a home there. In August 1945, her husband and Arthur Sayler purchased the Standard Oil business in Venturia. They operated under the name of Venturia Oil Company, selling Mobil products. They sold the service station in 1948 and she and Calvin continued as the sole owners of the bulk station. In 1957, they again acquired the station and operated both until he became ill in September 1963. Her husband died Dec. 12, 1963, and she continued to operate the business for one and a half years before liquidating it. She moved her home to Ashley in September 1975 and continued to make her home there. She entered the Ashley Nursing Home on July 20, 2006. Survivors include one son, Charles C. Dockter of Ashley; and one sister-in-law, Rita Dockter of Chester, Conn. Her parents, husband and two sisters, Esther Eszlinger and Edwina Retzer, preceded her in death. Carlsen Funeral Home of Ashley has been entrusted with the arrangements.
Published in the Aberdeen News on 11/9/2006.