Renee Singleton

As I write this obituary, I have stared death in the face every day with our mom and my sister on Facetime, she was a grandmother, great grandmother and friend to many, but most importantly, our mom.

I now have a newfound respect for the final stages of life. It is a beautiful process, one that I came to know every day.

Our mom would tell us to "keep it simple", so that is what I will try to do.

Let me introduce you to our mom, Renee Singleton, who passed peacefully on August 18th, 2025, at Frazee Care Center, under the care and guidance of hospice. They were wonderful to work with, alongside the nursing, dining, and activities staffs, at the Frazee Care Center. She loved everyone there.

Our mom had garden variety dementia, a little bit of this, sprinkled with that. Dementia is an unwanted guest, it changes the way people think and act, and their emotions and appetites. It progresses until their final breath.

A Chinese Proverb says, "that you can’t prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair". I believe our mom would have liked that proverb, as four birds ushered her Home.

Our mom, Renee, was born on May 9th, 1950, to Raoul and Dorothy Sparks in Bismarck, North Dakota and grew up there as an only child.

She would often mention during her childhood and how she would get into trouble from picking flowers at the bishop’s house with the Mother Superior or how she would help her mom can pickles or jellies.

Grandma and Grandpa and Mom eventually moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota. She would grow up in the Catholic Faith and graduate from Central High School in 1968.

Little did I know that my mom and her best friend of 65 years, Carolyn, had so much fun with their shenanigans. Most notably, a Sadie Hawkins dance, where they both got dates and dressed as hobos. Little did they know the guys they brought to the dance were no fun and didn’t even dance with Mom and Carolyn. After the dance, the guys took them out to eat at the A&W Root Beer Stand and ate in silence, that was the end of that date, and they never saw those boys again!

Mom eventually went on and would marry our dad, Ronald J. Singleton in 1969, with her best friend, Carolyn of 65 plus years by her side. They had two daughters, Jodi, in 1970 and Nan, in 1974. The marriage ended in divorce in 1977 (we thought it was a bummer) and she never remarried.

Mom held a variety of jobs, including making submarine sandwiches behind the Kmart deli, being a security guard at the airport, working in an elevator, and being the secretary at the morgue.

She eventually decided that she wanted to get a degree in accounting and that is where we would make a series of moves from Mayville, ND to Hillsboro, ND and then to Dallas, TX.

Mom worked for the Internal Revenue Service for over 25 years and received many awards for her work. She was a tough negotiator, but got the job done in Dallas, TX and Fargo, ND.

Mom loved her peanut buster bars and cheeseburgers and fries from Dairy Queen, as well as margaritas and nachos, but I never asked her to mix a margarita again, as too much tequila or too little mix was added.

Some memories include... my mom being so mad at my sister and grandma when they led me around the house, with a paper bag mind you, and I broke my left arm...our mom, sister and I made a pact never to eat liver and onions again after grandpa passed away, we are going to honor that promise. Mom was an avid gardener. She loved roses and lemon, lime, orange and apple trees.

Mom endured a lot. She was an ovarian cancer survivor, a stroke survivor, a hip replacement survivor, and overcame heart issues. The disease she had the most trouble with was dementia and would go through a series of new base lines.

With dementia, we had good moments and bad moments, we took the good and chucked the rest. What dementia did over time was slowly make chronic changes in the brain. She could not help it, so I found new ways to re-direct while I visited her in the care center. Then her favorite thing became when she didn’t want you or she was mad at you, to smile and wave goodbye.

Renee was a devout Catholic and she believed that the Word of God was bigger than that written by man. I prayed the rosary with her quite often and I would say, "Jesus you already know"! She would look at me and I would go back to it, or I would accidentally skip a decade and go back, she was always listening.

If you take anything from reading this, I want you to smile as she would and wave goodbye. Remember, life is meant to be lived, and we are meant to be loved and to love in return, she would not have it any other way.

Our mom, Renee, is survived by Jodi Butterworth, Nan (Brad) Abell, her grandchildren, Michael (girlfriend Jade), Kevin (Brittany), Jeffrey (Kayla), Bryce, Brandon, Leslie(Christopher), Dillon(Amara), Taylor and Chloe, her great grandchildren, Kayden, Deklynn, River and Sage, Callen, Cashden, Bristol, Brinlee and Grayson, Jordy and Everlynn ,and Alexander, her best friend of over 65 years, Carolyn and her two adopted sons, Thomas Hanson and Todd Steele of Fargo, ND; Friends Lee (Rhonda) Denise (Mike) and Miriam; The entire nursing staff, dining staff and activities staff, Rachel, a CNA, who loved taking care of her, Shannon, the medication aide, loved her, Jennifer, who would make sure she was tucked in, her ladies at Frazee Care center, along with her tea party girls, Betty, Julie, Joyce, Julie, Betty and Bobbi Jo and most importantly, Hospice.

She is preceded in death by our father, Ronald Singleton, her parents, Raoul and Dorothy Sparks, one brother, Joseph and one sister.

But hey Mom, guess what? I put a call into the hotline in heaven and made sure you had the most beautiful room with the best nachos and margaritas.

Why? Because we said so.

You are the beauty that remains in the flowers and vegetables we grow,

We love you mom!

Service dates to be announced.