Paula, with her kind, loving, gentle and sweet spirit, spread her angelic wings and confidently glided into heaven on July 28, 2020. Her premature passing was the result of a traffic fatality.
Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m., Monday, August 3, 2020, with visitation starting at 10:00 a.m., prior to the service, at the Family Worship Center Foursquare Church in Watertown with Reverend Steve Ferguson officiating.
Interment will be at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at Mandan Union Cemetery in Mandan, ND.
Casket bearers will be Bryan Bruchhof, Jim Thovson, Mike, Brandon, Ryan and Troy Ressler.
Paula, one of four children, was born October 1, 1956 in Mandan, ND, to Theodore and Polly Ressler. She treasured her younger years in Mandan with family and friends. She graduated from Mandan High School in 1974, and then earned a four-year degree in accounting at Mary College in 1978. Paula later acquired her Certified-Public-Accountant designation.
Paula enjoyed a 30-year business career with various state agencies at the Capitol in Bismarck, ND. In 2006, she concluded her professional career as the Budget Director at North Dakota State University, in Fargo, ND. She then commenced a more challenging and rewarding career: full-time work as a dedicated and selfless wife, mother, sister, grandmother, friend and valued business associate and consultant for her husband.
In 1987, a mutual friend introduced Paula to Bill. For the next 33-years they “did-life-together”, and the awesome love and grace of God allowed their marriage to grow deeper and stronger each year.
Family was Paula’s focus and greatest accomplishment, and that which brought the most joy in her life. She deeply loved her husband and daughters, Alicia and Ariana, and her two grandchildren. Paula always looked for opportunities to share wisdom with her loved-ones, and emphasize the essential priority of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And she would frequently say: “what could be more important than that?”
Paula became additionally transformed in-the-Spirit when she read the Bible from front to back several years ago. She treasured relationships with her church families and her Bible study groups, and thoroughly enjoyed listening to notable evangelists with Ariana and Bill and, of course, spending personal time in-the-Word. Hobbies included interior and exterior decoration (landscaping and her outside flower projects), cooking and entertaining at our lake home, and shopping trips to Fargo and Sioux Falls.
Preceding Paula in their fleshly death were her parents.
Survivors include her husband, Bill, and daughter Ariana from Watertown, SD, and daughter Alicia (Ray) Paz of Springlake, TX; siblings Wayne Ressler of Bismarck, ND, Mary (Jerry) Bernhardt of Blaine, MN, and Mike (Kathy) Ressler of Bismarck, ND; and two grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
For those that were fortunate to know Paula, blessed is her memory.
Arrangements by Wight & Comes Funeral Chapel, Watertown, SD, www.wightandcomes.com