Charlene Pays, age 76 of Dunseith, passed away on Sunday, August 31, 2025 at a Bismarck assisted living center.  Her funeral will be held on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at 10:00 am at the St. Anthony's Catholic Church near Belcourt.  Her wake will be on Monday, starting at 4:00 pm with a rosary at 7:00 pm at the church.

Charlene Pays, a daughter of Frank X. and Marie (Laducer) Morin, was born on December 21, 1948 in Flandreau, SD.  She attended elementary school in Cannonball, ND and then she attended high school in Fort Yates.  She then attended NDSU in Fargo and finished her education business administration in Minneapolis.  She was married to Richard Bauer and they had 3 children, Michelle, Kimberly and Anthony.  This marriage later ended.  She moved to Dunseith and Charlene began working for the Dunseith Day School in the business office. Charlene then married Richard "Sonny" Pays in Dunseith.  Sonny passed away on September 15, 2013.

Charlene was a member of the St. Michael's Catholic Church in Dunseith.  Charlene said the rosary daily.  She loved cooking without a recipe, playing cards and socializing with people at the casino.  She spent her life as a caretaker and now she is being taken care of by the Lord.

She is survived by her daughters, Michelle Bauer-Vega of Fargo, Kimberly Bauer-Anderson (Sean) of Rogers, MN; son, Anthony Bauer (Tracey) of Bismarck; step children, Anthea Jeanotte (Terry) of Rolla, Darlita Sarkilahti (Mark) of Bismarck, Lynell Pays (Danny) of Belcourt and Merlin Pays (Lisa) of Rolla; 26 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren and sister, Bernadette Axness (David) of LaCrosse, WI.

In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by a sister, Sharon Chalmers; brother, Frank X. Morin; step-son, Barry Pays;  Jr; and step great-grandchild, Chaysan DeCoteau.