The prayers of
St. Stephen’s are requested for the repose of the soul of Audrey Baird, 93,
Dickinson, ND, mother of our Senior Warden, John Baird.
Audrey died Sunday,
Feb. 3, 2013 at the Country House Residences, the memory care facility where
she has spent her final years happily under the wonderful care of their staff.
Audrey’s funeral
service is 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 8, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Dickinson,
with the Rev. Marianne Ell officiating. Interment will take place in the spring
at the Dickinson Cemetery.
Visitation is
Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Ladbury Funeral Service, Dickinson, and will
continue one hour prior to services at the church Friday.
Audrey Louise
Larson was born July 22, 1919, in Minneapolis to Louis and Hilda (Thelander)
Larson. She was a graduate of South High School and began her employment years
as the first woman teller with Northwestern Bank in Minneapolis.
Her independent
streak not only brought her to the forefront in her employment, but it gave
rise to a desire to fly, a passion that would last her entire life.
In her early
20s, Audrey decided she was going to take flying lessons. After discussions
with her parents, she was given skeptical and non-monetary support. It was off
to the Robbinsdale/Crystal Airport outside of Minneapolis where she diligently
took her ground school studies and instructional flying lessons.
When it came
time for her private licensing, one would suspect the normal takeoff and
landing on the runway, but not Audrey. She completed her private license flight
in Florida using a float plane, taking off and landing on water.
In a time period
after WWII, Audrey attended a multi-family summer picnic in Wisconsin where she
met her future husband, LaRoy Baird Jr. They were married at St. Bartholomew’s
Church in New York City on New Year’s Day 1948. To this union four children
were born: LaRoy III, John Robert, David Louis and Ellen Hilda.
Audrey, LaRoy
and family moved from Minneapolis to Dickinson in 1957. Audrey’s husband
acquired the Dickinson Abstract Company and Audrey set about making a home for
everyone in the city where her husband had grown up.
In addition to
caring for the home fires, Audrey was an active participant at St. John’s
Episcopal Church, the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and was a charter member of the North
Dakota Chapter of 99s, an international organization of women pilots.
She continued
her lifelong pursuit of flying and ultimately obtained her commercial rating
along with an instrument rating. In 1970, she and her best friend and flying
companion, Geneva Oleson, participated in the nationwide Women’s
Transcontinental Air Race, also known as the “Powder Puff Derby.”
For the derby
she piloted her plane from Calgary, Alberta, to Baton Rouge, La. Audrey often
talked of her favorite flying adventure in 1993, when she and her son, David,
flew her Beechcraft Bonanza from Dickinson to Fairbanks, Alaska.
While living in
Dickinson, Audrey’s husband was elected county judge, which required her to
learn how to assist in running the family-owned title company. She worked with
her husband evenings and weekends to learn the intricacies of land title work.
She successfully
completed her abstracting boards a mere six months before her husband
unexpectedly passed away on Oct. 1, 1969. At that point, she took over the title-company
full time to support her family. She ran the company successfully until she
sold it in 1996 when, at the age of 77, she finally decided it might be a good
idea to retire.
Retirement to
Audrey meant staying active flying and with civic involvement. She served many
years on the Municipal Airport Authority of the city of Dickinson and on the
State of North Dakota Abstracters Board of Examiners.
She was honored
with awards for her years of dedication to the community and the state,
including awards from the Dickinson Chamber of Commerce, for pioneering
contributions as a woman pilot and businesswoman, and the Department of
Transportation Federal Aviation Administration, as a master pilot with more
than 50 years of flying.
Audrey was
preceded in death by her parents Louis and Hilda, her brother L. John and her
husband LaRoy.
She is survived
by her children: LaRoy III (with wife Mary), John (with wife Kim), David, and
Ellen (with husband Mike Getz), grandchildren: Jesse (with wife Sarah), Ondine,
Stephen, and Anna, and great-grandchildren: Jordan and Bailee Baird as well as
several nieces and nephews.
Arrangements are
with Ladbury Funeral Service, Dickinson.
Rest eternal grant to her, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon her. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
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