Catherine Erhardt, 90, Mandan, died March 29, 2005, in a Bismarck nursing home. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, April 2, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Mandan, with the Rev. Charlie Heidt officiating. Burial will be at Mandan Union Cemetery Mandan.

Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m., Friday at Weigel Funeral Home, where a Catholic Daughters rosary will be held at 4 p.m. and a Moose Ritual at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue one hour prior to services at the church.

Catherine was born March 18, 1915, at Fallon, the daughter of Stanislous "Stanley" and Emilia (Leingang) Hopfauf. She was raised and educated at Fallon, southwest of present day St. Anthony. Catherine and Joseph "Joe" Erhardt were united in marriage Oct. 16, 1934, at Fallon.

Catherine was a homemaker on the family farm near New Salem for 36 years before retiring and moving to Mandan in 1970. She worked for eight years at the Heartview Foundation Treatment Center as a housekeeper, and was employed at House of Brides for 12 years.

A kind hearted, generous person who was friendly to everyone she met; Catherine would pick up her friends and drive them around town to run errands and help out any way that she could. She was very social, loved to entertain friends and family, play cards, especially pinochle, and play bingo. When entertaining, she would prepare dishes such as rice pudding, potato salad with oil and vinegar, creamed noodles, and when asked for the recipe, it was "a little of this and a little of that!"

Catherine was an excellent seamstress, and she sewed numerous bridal gowns and other wedding party dresses over a span of 20 years. She took pride in her appearance and loved to dress up and go to Prairie Knights.

She was devoted to her family and cherished her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. A high point in Catherine's life was when her out of state grandchildren would phone her or send her pictures.

Survivors include her two sons and daughters-in-law, Marcus and Joey Erhardt, New Salem, and Marvin and Carol Erhardt, Bismarck; two daughters and sons-in-law, Gladys and Leo Leingang, Mandan, and Rosalee and Kenneth Mosbrucker, Mandan; 11 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; four brothers and three sisters-in-law, Anton and Frances Hopfauf, and Ralph and Katherine Hopfauf, all of Mandan, Leo Hopfauf, Bismarck, and Florian and Georgine Hopfauf, Culbertson, Mont.; five sisters and one brother-in-law, Rose Bohl, Clementine and Eugene Volk, and Agnes Eckroth, all of Bismarck, and Frances Bohl and Genevieve Eckroth, both of Mandan.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe; her parents; her brother, Adam; her sisters, Magdalena Hellman, Mary (Catherine's twin, died as an infant), Eva Barnhardt, and Perpetua Bullinger; her brothers-in-law, Jacob Hellman, Adam Barnhardt and Anton Bullinger; her sister-in-law, Josephine Hopfauf; and her brothers-in-law, Xavier Bohl, Peter Eckroth, George Bohl, and Raymond Eckroth.

To share memories of Catherine, go to www.weigelfuneral.com and sign the online guestbook.

Bismarck Tribune March 31, 2005