Rita R. Pifer-Thieszen

Funeral Services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 11, 2025 at Paynesville Lutheran Church in Paynesville for Rita Ruby Pifer-Thieszen, age 79 of Paynesville. Pastor Paul Shumaker will officiate. Burial will be in Moffit Cemetery in Moffit North Dakota.

Visitation will take place one hour prior to services on Friday at the Church in Paynesville. Arrangements are with the Daniel-Anderson Funeral Home in Paynesville.

Rita Ruby Pifer-Thieszen was born, March 5, 1946, to M. Jewel (DeWeese)and Roy R. Pifer in Bismarck, ND.  She was the third of four daughters.

Rita moved to Xenia, Il. As a young child only to return to the Bismarck area where she graduated from Steele High School in 1964.  After graduation she worked for a year in retail while residing in Northfield before attending Business School where she obtained her business certification.  After business school she met and married Jerome Jandl.  From this union they had two children.  They eventually settled in Winona for approximately 20 years, devoting her time to many volunteer committees such as the red cross, Jaycees and the YWCA board of directors.

Always one to take on challenges she went back to college and proudly graduated cum laude from Winona State University with a B.S. in Business Administration in 1989.

Her love of travel and new adventures took her to Colorado Springs, Co where she worked as the head HR manager for over a decade with Skyline Productss.  Colorado is also where she met the love of her life Glenden Thieszen.  They were united in marriage on Feb. 9^th, 2002.  They had many adventures together and almost making Rita’s dream to visit every state in the U.S.  She only missed two!

Rita had a passion for Genealogy.  Family history led her to compile a DeWeese family history book as well as a family cookbook.  Even though she lived a distance from her grandchildren she made it a priority to spend fun quality time with them.  They even had a few adventures such as when they entered the Peace Gardens in North Dakota/Canada and exited the wrong way and  had to explain to the border patrol who all the kids were.  In addition to genealogy, she had a love for rock collecting and took friends and Glen on some escapades that may have included late night pajamas on a mountain side.

However, Rita will be best remembered as making connections wherever she went.  Her family often joked she would go into a restroom and come out with a new best friend or a long lost relative.

She will be greatly missed by her loving husband who stood by her side.  She is survived by Glenden Thieszen, son, Jeff Jandl (fiancé Kristen), Tricia (Jandl)Utsch (husband Chris), stepson Jeremiah Thieszen (wife Sarah), grandchildren Jacob Jandl, Alayna Willcutt (Andrew), Emily Jandl, Courtney Jandl, Alivia Buggs, Aylah Utsch, great grandchildren Sage and Kai Willcutt. Sister, Brenda (Bob) Heintzelman, and brother in laws Dale Twedt and Joe Chesla and numerous nieces and nephews.  She is proceeded in death by her parents, sister Nar Alice Holm and sister M. Sue Twedt.

The family would like to say a special thank you to the staff at Vista Prairie for the wonderful care they provided for Rita.