Ann M. Basaraba

Funeral services for Ann M. Basaraba, 97, of Minneapolis, MN, will be held in the spring.

Ann Basaraba passed away on January 3, 2023, in Minneapolis, MN after a brief illness.  She was 97 years old and had been living in Minneapolis for many years.

Ann was born December 12, 1925, near Gorham, ND to Peter and Polly (Palahniuk) Basaraba.  She lived on the family farm which was near the badlands in Billings County until the age of 18.  Ann was the 6th of 8 children, her 4 brothers, George, John, Bill, and Nick, and 3 sisters, Dorothy Zilkowski, Stella Kordonowy, and Mary Ewoniuk Rombough, all preceding her in death. She attended a one-room country school along with her 7 siblings.  Ann is survived by many nieces and nephews, and their children.  
Ann graduated from Belfield High School in 1944.  She entered the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate in Canada in 1945 as a postulate and a novitiate remaining for 10 years.  After leaving the convent, Ann went on to attend Dickinson State College in Dickinson, ND obtaining a B.S. in Elementary Education and Library Science, and went on to teach for a number of years.

Ann was born with an eye condition which was corrected with eyeglasses at an early age.  She lost vision in one eye in 1959, and subsequently as an adult when her vision in the other eye worsened, became legally blind.  Ann became proficient at braille, studying in IL, AR, and MN, and did not consider her vision to be a handicap.  

Ann lived independently for many years in Minneapolis.  She attended St. Olaf’s Catholic Church weekly often walking to the church well into her 90s.  Once the church established a shuttle bus for services, Ann and the other seniors riding the shuttle formed a bond enjoying each other’s company and looking out and praying for each other.  Ann was fiercely independent, doing her own shopping and tending to many other daily affairs on her own even though she had little to no vision.  Ann frequently said, “You’ve gotta keep moving and be active.  Do your own chores!”  Ann’s doctor of many years admired her spirit, saying that she lived with grace and a certain toughness that helped her deal with the physical impairment that life had dealt her. 

Ann will be buried at the St. John Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Belfield, ND in late spring.