Vicki Degenstein

Vicki Lynn Degenstein, 72, of Hazen, ND passed peacefully into eternal life with our Lord and Savior on November 10, 2025 at Sakakawea Medical Center after a spirited 17-month battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10:00 AM CT on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at St. Martin’s Catholic Church in Hazen with Fr. Thomas Grafsgaard and Fr. Justin Waltz concelebrating. Burial will take place at Holy Cross Cemetery in Velva, ND at 2:00 PM CT with Fr. Jayden Nelson presiding.

Visitation for Vicki will take place at Barbot Funeral Home, Beulah, on Friday, November 14, 2025 at 6:00 PM with a Rosary and Vigil at 7:00 PM. Visitation will take place again one hour prior to the funeral Mass at St. Martin’s on Saturday.

Vicki was born May 19, 1953 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Minot, ND to Bertholdt “Bert” and Donnajeanne (Heydt) Michalenko. From even the youngest age, Vicki had a knack for connecting with others and loved the people and places that made her hometown, Butte, ND so special. From hanging out at their family-owned International Harvester Implement eating chocolate bars, to spending Sunday nights roller skating with her friends at the City Hall, Vicki found joy in the big and small things. A girl’s girl from the start, Vicki knew how to be a friend and never outgrew her love for fabulous hair, makeup, nails, jewelry, fashion and chatting with her friends. Her early years of swapping clothes with her girlfriends and listening to records while getting ready to cheer on the Butte Spartans laid the foundation for lifelong friendships that would sustain her through the hardest of times—including the disappearance of her mother in 1968, all the way to her cancer diagnosis in 2024.

While still in high school, Vicki met the love of her life at a dance in Anamoose, ND. She found him to be the perfect combination of cute, quiet (so she could do all the talking!) and he could drive. She knew he was the one when they went to see The Sound of Music and David willingly spent more time buying her snacks from the concession stand than watching the movie. On May 24, 1969, she and David were united in marriage and they started their life together in Minot, ND. By 1978, their little family grew from two to six and their years together took them from the Velva area to Hazen in 1985 when David’s work began at Antelope Valley Station. Confident that her first and most important job was that of being a mother, Vicki was blessed to stay home and raise their children—impressing them with her cooking and craftiness, making everything from dresses and shirts, to Barbie clothes (Ken, too!), homemade Cabbage Patch Dolls, harlequin bunnies, crocheted blankets, and decorative pillows. Vicki’s creativity and energy were boundless and her ability to mishear song lyrics was unmatched. Of her greatest joys was seeing her and David’s investment in their children ‘pay off’ when each went on to complete college and journey through their lives without compromising their values, losing their faith or forgetting to call their mother.

Vicki officially joined the workforce as an employee of the US Postal Service when their youngest entered the seventh grade in 1990. Her time at USPS contributed greatly to Vicki embodying the description ‘she never met a stranger,’ by giving her the opportunity to get to know virtually everyone in the community. With an entrepreneurial spirit and a love for insurance that began when her dad worked as an insurance agent, Vicki made the leap from the post office to insurance work that would allow her to work from home and still serve in her community. By 2006, Vicki established a reputation as a trusted agent and took a leap of faith and opened her own independent agency, The Signature Page. Even though others thought it couldn’t be done, with her drive and tenacity Vicki grew the agency and within a few short years, was serving hundreds of clients whom she considered friends, with a newly retired David at her side helping take care of both home and office. David had been retired for five years when Vicki finally made the decision to retire herself, selling the agency in 2017 and purchasing a lake cabin that would become their home away from home.

Vicki’s sassy sense of humor, generous heart, and genuine nature endeared her to friends and family alike. Sincerely interested in the happiness of others, she made every milestone—no matter how modest—feel special. Vicki had a way of making a big world feel much smaller—she was authentic and unafraid, making friends everywhere she went, which fueled her love for travel and new experiences. At her core, she was a community builder who lived to bring people together, as she often did, planning family reunions, cabin community happy hours and frequenting hotel socials with her fellow Mayo patients in Rochester. She gave generously to support the programs and activities that make our schools and communities strong, and most importantly, advanced the mission of the church. As a grandma, she was simply the best and wanted only to give them the best—of her heart, of her time, of her treasure, and of her dance moves. She lived her Catholic faith and conservative values boldly and desired for her family to be nurtured in their faith, to be grateful for His blessings, and to live joyfully…and her lasting encouragement is for you to keep the conversation going and stay connected to those you love.

Blessed to share in her life are her devoted husband of 56 years, David, Hazen, ND; and their beloved children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Mark (Kassandra) Degenstein, Michael Degenstein, Melanee (Jason) Pulver, all of Hazen, and Marya (Jeffrey) Skaare, Dickinson, ND; Dakota (Kimber) Degenstein, Newark, DE, Victoria (Scott) Weinand, Mandan, ND, Lucy (fiancé, Hunter Koble) Pulver, Hazen, ND, Harper Skaare, Bismarck, ND, and Hetta Skaare, Dickinson, ND; Bellamy and Freya Degenstein, Newark, DE, Jack and baby Weinand (arriving February 2026), Mandan, ND; one sister, Marlys “Susie” Fandrich, Minot, ND; one brother, Jeff (Sandee) Michalenko, Bergen, ND; sisters-in-law, Darla (Leroy) Fricke, Minot, ND, and Lucinda (John) Halloran, Velva, ND; brothers-in-law, Charles (Debbie) Bodine, Castle Rock, CO, Daniel (Berta) Degenstein, Minot, ND, Bruce (Brenda) Degenstein, Voltaire, ND, and Robert (Mary) Degenstein, Stanton, ND; one aunt, Violet Michalenko; step-brother, Gaylen (Judy) Ness, Grand Forks, ND; and numerous beloved nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Bert and Donna Michalenko; step-mother, Ella Mae Michalenko; parents-in-law, Walter and Lorrayne Degenstein; sisters-in-law, Charlotte Degenstein and Diane Degenstein; brother-in-law, Darrel Fandrich; and step-brother, Ron Ness.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to: St. Martin’s Catholic Church, Hazen; Trinity Catholic Schools, Dickinson, ND; or Holy Cross Cemetery, Velva, ND.