Memories and updates - Brenda (Kibbel) Frisk

Greetings!

Wow! You have done a LOT of work on your family tree. My daughter, Sarah, said she Googled her name and came across your website. She didn't know quite what to think of it, because she hardly recognized a single name there, so we sat down together and went over all that applied to our family and it was terrific fun! I can't thank you enough for all your hard work and for going to the trouble of posting it on a website.

Please don't interpret my comments as criticism, but I'm certain that having done so much research, you would want the Tree to absolutely accurate. I don't know how you got so much information. How did you know my mother died at my home in Hawley, MN, instead of at her home in Mott, ND? You have done so well!

Let me just offer a couple of changes. I don't know why you should take my word for it, but if it is any comfort, I can assure you that the last time I checked my passport and birth certificate, my name was still Brenda (Kibbel) Frisk. Anyway, if you are interested, here goes . . .

Under the heading, General Comments, you mentioned that Bryce and his family drowned on July 12th, 1966. You may (or may not) wish to mention that a 20' in diameter culvert was washed out of the road only 3 miles from their farmstead. On their way home, in the midst of a terrible storm, they drove into the flash flood (where the culvert had once been) and were swept away. It took nearly an entire week, but all of them were found and they are buried together in the Sunnyslope Cemetery at Mott, ND. Debbie and I were only three months apart in age. She was the sister I never had and I was the sister she never had. It was a devastating time and changed our lives forever.

Otto Ludwig Peter Kibbel (my paternal grandfather and number 199 on your Tree) homesteaded his farm south of Burt, ND in 1905 (rather than 1958). I grew up on that farm, leaving in 1969 when I went to college. After grandpa's death, that farm was my dad's (Kenneth Kibbel - #210) until his death March 1st, 2003. Dad died of a heart attack at the hospital in Elgin, ND. He is buried beside my mom in Mott, ND. When daddy died, I had to sell the farm, as there was no way to make it pay for itself. This was an exceptionally difficult decision for me, but I had no choice. There were a great many Indian artifacts on the land, particularly in the buttes, so we used to joke that no one had ever lived there besides us and the Indians, though in truth, I believe a family named Chin had lived on the land briefly before Grandpa. He bought the Chin's house and moved it to it's present site on the Kibbel farm . . . but now, I'm rambling.

One addition: My mother, Valeria (Pekas) Kibbel (#216), died of liver and pancreatic cancer. All your other information was remarkably accurate. It's too bad there isn't some way, in a family tree, to convey how very much we miss these loved ones every single day.

Bradley Kibbel (my little brother and #272 on your Tree) was born October 8th, 1952. He was 13 months younger and I - quiet and tender-hearted as a boy - outgoing and hysterically funny as an adult. The last 22 years of his life, he was an elder in his Assembly of God church and was a high-level executive at Sony in New York. He died of liver and bone cancer at the age of 44.

Bradley (#272) and Kiyoko (#277) had only one child - Maya Kiyoko Kibbel (#278), who was born April 4th, 1995.

When mom died, she was worried about what would become of daddy, since he was such a people-person, so she left him a list of ladies to consider marrying once she was gone. 1 1/2 years later, on October 7th, 1995, he married the first lady on mom's list - Dorothy Sprenger (#217) from Elgin, ND. Dad said the nicest thing about the list was that he never felt any guilt about dating, because he knew he had mom's permission - in writing.

My husband, Mark Frisk (#273) was born in Moorhead, Minnesota, not Mott, ND. I taught school for 5 1/2 years, which is how I met my husband. We are very involved in our Assembly of God church in Fargo, ND, where I have been employed for more than 17 years.

Your Tree is excellent without any of this information, but I thought I would throw it out there. You may do with it whatever you please (within reason). Thank you again for all your hard work and the enjoyment it has brought my family . . . and will in the days to come. God's best to you!

Brenda (Kibbel) Frisk