Mildred Parrill, age 96 of Bottineau formerly of Dunseith, passed away on Saturday, September 24, 2022 at a Bottineau hospital.  Her funeral will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 11:00 am at the Peace Lutheran Church in Dunseith.  Visitation will be Friday from 3:00 pm until 8:00 pm at the Nero Funeral Home in Bottineau.  Burial will be at the Rendahl Cemetery at 1:30pm.

Mildred Eleanor Parrill, daughter of Norwegian immigrant parents John Herman Nelson and Marie Sigrid (Berg) Nelson, was born December 6, 1925, on the family homestead in Homen Township in Bottineau County. She was the youngest of nine children living in a log cabin built by her father with local timber.

When "Millie" was a baby, the family moved to Rolette County about six miles North of Dunseith. She attended Beaver Dam country school three miles from their home. Millie, a year younger than her sister Marie, finished two grades in one year and ended up in the same grade.  In 1938 she graduated from 8th grade at age 12 1/2 as salutatorian of Rolette County. They stayed home one year because of lack of funds for textbooks and room and board in town. Their oldest sister Nellie sent money for them to start Dunseith HS where both sisters graduated in 1943. While in high school, Millie participated in basketball, band, glee club, and worked on NYA after she turned 16. Mildred graduated valedictorian of her class.

Mildred enrolled at Minot State Teacher's College where she graduated four times. She earned the 48HR and the 60HR rural certificates in 1944, 2-year standard in 1950 and a BS in elementary education in 1979. She attended several summer sessions and took night and correspondence classes.

At age 18 her teaching career which spanned 36 years, began in 1944 at Grassland Country school near Sawyer with 25 students in all eight grades. Firmly ready to call it quits after a year, she received word that she was needed at Medrud School near Long Lake in Bottineau County. This school had only 9 pupils and she taught there three years. After her marriage she moved to the Butte school near Butte St. Paul for one year. Later she was a long-term substitute at Beaver Dam and Wetheralt country schools.

On June 18, 1948, she married Cecil Dean Parrill. They lived in several towns in western North Dakota while Dean worked trucking and hauling gravel for various road projects.  Millie taught grades 1-4 in Russell, ND for two terms from 1950-1952. Dean began farming in the Turtle Mountains near Dunseith in 1952. Mildred began teaching first grade at Dunseith Public in the fall of 1955. The first-grade class had 37 students the first year and 39 the second year. She then took time off when Joel was born. Mrs. Parrill returned to a second-grade classroom for 26 years from 1960 until her retirement in 1986. As a teacher she stressed historical events and timelines and she worked hard to get each student to read and do math at grade level. As a farm wife she enjoyed delivering meals to the field, tending the garden, picking wild berries, canning, and milking the cow. She was an avid reader, and a common sight would be to see her frying meat and reading Time magazine. The farm kitchen was always open to extra guests for meals and coffee.

Mildred was a past member of Rendahl Lutheran Church and a current member of Peace Lutheran Church of Dunseith. She was active in the WELCA ladies' group and served as treasurer for 18 years. When asked to read the Bible lessons at church, she never refused. Mildred belonged to Happy Home Homemakers, Peace Garden Senior Citizens, DEA, NDEA, NEA, and Turtle Mountain Retired Teachers.  Mildred was an accomplished whist player, loved to read biographies and other nonfiction, do Sudoku and cryptoquote puzzles, write letters, and make braided rugs.  She was an avid sports fan. Her favorite teams were the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Vikings, LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors, the Dunseith Dragons and later the Minnesota Twins.  She followed the trades on the pro teams and was always commenting about so and so showing up play for the opposing team.  Her favorite thing was spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  She loved to receive notes and cards in the mail.

Dean passed away October 3, 1998. Mildred moved to Oak Manor in Bottineau in 2008 and resided there until she broke her hip and entered St. Andrew's in Bottineau for long term care in March 2018.  Her days were filled with activities of Bible Study, card playing, reading, BINGO, watching sports and visiting. She loved her caretakers and was an easy patient to please except when her telephone rang, and it was out of reach. She was a lifelong learner and teacher.  Mildred will be remembered for her story telling of olden days. Her memory of dates and events was amazing.

Mildred is survived by daughter LeaRae (Terry) Espe, Bottineau and her son Joel of Grand Forks, her daughter-in law Nora Parrill of Roseau, MN; her grandchildren: Brady Espe, Bismarck; Marty (Heather DeCoteau) Espe, Bottineau; Joshua (Emily) Parrill, Grand Forks; Jude Parrill, New Hope, MN; and Eva Parrill of San Diego, CA. and great-grandchildren Elsa and Cora Parrill and bonus great-grandchildren Rebecca and Rylan DeCoteau.  She is also survived by brother-in law Ben Cox, Cavalier and sisters-in-law Judy Cox, Cavalier, Roberta Cox, Grand Forks and many nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents and husband; her son Clark Cecil Parrill (10-30-2006); all of her siblings and spouses: Nellie (Frank)Blomquist, Jennie (Lucky) Metcalfe, Erling (Helen) Nelson, Carl Nelson, Olga (Howard) Edinger, Eugenie (Hugo) Walker, John (Della) Nelson, Marie (Thurman) Parrill; nephew Bill Blomquist; nieces: Gladys Blomquist, Carol Walker, and Mary Metcalfe Bradley. She was also preceded by Dean's siblings: Thurman Parrill, Avis Vivitson, Shirley Johnson, DeeDee Anderson, Grace, Don, Darry, Joe, and Paul Cox and Dean's nephew Robert Anderson.

Memorials are preferred to Rendahl Cemetery or Peace Lutheran Church.

Arrangements with Nero Funeral Home in Bottineau.