Verlene Mahlum, 78, of Stanley, ND, passed away on July 25, 2020 in the Stanley hospital after suffering a massive stroke.

Verlene was born January 29, 1942 in Belden, ND to William and Mary Maki. She attended country school in the Belden area and went to Stanley Highschool until grade 10 when she became sick with Scarlet fever. She was the youngest child with 4 older brothers. At age 17 she married Darrel Sanderson on October 21st, 1959. To this union was born Karen, Wayne and Dale.

On March 7, 1969 her husband Darrel passed away due to an accident on the job and later in 1971 she lost her 7 year old son Wayne in an accidental shooting while he was playing at a neighbor's house.

On May 11, 1973 Verlene married Ellsworth Mahlum and together they moved to the Mahlum family homestead south of Blaisdell. To this union was born Christine.

Throughout her life Verlene was always busy working. She was mainly the homemaker and farm helper and director of operations :) until her youngest daughter turned 8. Verlene then went to work in Parshall in a restaurant. Throughout her life she had many different jobs, cooking, sewing, wood working crafts, cleaning and working with the elderly. The family started making the move to Stanley in 1987. She lost her husband Ellsworth in 2013.

She was a humorous, feisty, Finnlander, speaking mostly English but also razzed her family and friends in Finnish. She was a strong survivor of life's turmoil, using her blunt, direct humor to make many friends along the way.

She is survived by her daughter Karen, son Dale, daughter Christine, daughter in law Wendy, grandchildren Heidi, Bobbie Jo, Katy, Tyler, Colter and Aurora.