Alma Bohm

Longtime resident and native of Enderlin, North Dakota, Alma Opheim Bohm passed away on April 12, 2022 in DeWitt, Michigan. She was 97 years old. She was known to many by her nickname “Toots,” which she received as a teenager. Alma was born on November 18, 1924, in Enderlin. Her parents, Nick and Constance Opheim, were Norwegian immigrants who came to the United States in 1904. The eighth in a family of nine children, Alma grew up in Enderlin and attended public public school there. For a brief time in the mid-thirties, she went to grade school in Coburn Township. Alma met her future husband Fredric Bohm, Jr. (aka Tex Bohm) at the 1939 Fourth-of-July event in Lisbon, North Dakota. The couple were married on June 5, 1942, at Enderlin's First Lutheran Church.

Shortly after the wedding, they traveled west to Bremerton, Washington, where Fred went to work at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS). At the end of World War II the couple returned to North Dakota to take up farming along the Sheyenne River in Ransom County's Shenford Township. After a couple of “bad years,” they returned to Bremerton in 1950 where Tex, once again, went to work at PSNS. In 1957 Alma, Fred, and their family relocated to Seattle where Fred took a position with Boeing Aerospace. During her eighteen Washington years, Alma raised a family and was, for a time, employed at Memorial Hospital in Burien.

Alma and Fred Jr., had three children: Fredric III, born in 1943; Dwight Keith, born in 1947; and Vickie Diane, born in 1953. Alma remained engaged with each of them and took pride in their achievements. She was a member of several Lutheran Churches during her lifetime, including: First Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran in Enderlin, Emmanuel Lutheran in Bremerton (where she taught Sunday School), and Prince of Peace Lutheran in Seattle (where she was an active member in several women's groups).

In 1969 Alma and Fred left Seattle, and after a brief time in Flint, Michigan, they returned to the Enderlin area to take up farming in Highland and Pontiac townships. Alma was employed at Martin's grocery store for several years during that time. In 1977 Alma and Fred purchased the farmstead just across the road from the Methodist Cemetery on Highway 38; they lived there for thirty years before moving into Enderlin in the early 2000s. Eventually they purchased the house at 14 Railway Street where they lived until Fred, her husband of sixty-seven years, passed away in 2009. Alma relocated to Michigan to be near her eldest son, Fredric III, in 2010. For nearly a decade she lived at Delta Retirement Center just west of Lansing. During her final years, Alma was lovingly cared for by the staff at Rosewood AFC in DeWitt, Michigan.

Alma is survived by her sons, Fredric III (Susan) and Dwight (Norma), her daughter Vickie Hoehne (Larry); seven grandchildren: Erika Skar, Darin Bohm, Fredric Bohm IV, Shannon Lahiji, Angela Hancock, Kelly Av, and Brooke Hutchens; fourteen great grandchildren; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

No funeral is planned; however, a memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Enderlin Historical Society and Museum's Endowment Fund in memory of Alma and Fred Bohm at the following address:

Enderlin Historical Society and Museum, Inc.

c/o The Treasurer

13296 55th Street SE

Enderlin, ND 58027