Constance Polifka

Constance "Connie" Steffens Polifka, 86, passed away on Friday, September 20, 2024, at Vitacare Living of Spirit Valley in Duluth, MN. Connie was born on July 22, 1938, in Fairmount, North Dakota to Edward and Minnie (Mahler) Steffens. A funeral service honoring her life will take place on Monday, September 30, 2024, beginning at 11 AM at Vertin Munson Funeral Home in Wahpeton, ND. Visitation will take place one hour prior. 

Connie was raised in Fairmount where she graduated from Fairmount High School. After high school, she continued her education as she attended Dakota Business School in Wahpeton, ND, and went to work for Home Gas Company for a couple of years. 

January 3, 1959, she married Thomas Polifka in Fairmount, ND. After they married Thomas and Connie moved to Sacramento, CA, but eventually settled back to West Fargo in 1962. Their union brought forth four children, daughters Stephanie, Kelley Lynne (who passed away in 1966), Kimberly, and son Michael.  When her children were in school and for more than three decades, she served with distinction as a Paraprofessional at South Elementary School in West Fargo, North Dakota. In 2000, the couple retired to Big Pine Lake near Perham, MN.

Connie was a gentle, kind and patient soul who cherished time with her family. She was a woman of faith and spent many years teaching Sunday School. She found solace in reading, joy in baking and cooking and even taught herself to play the piano during her youth.

Her love of family extended not only to her children but also to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her immediate family includes daughters Stephanie (Todd) Barney and Kimberly (Mark) Kroll; son Michael (Laura) Polifka; and she was the adored grandmother of Nicholas (Farryn) Barney, Alexander (Brittney) Barney, Kellyn (Brock) Saewert, Thomas Kroll, and Ian Kroll. She found immense joy in her great-grandchildren: Nikolai and Bodie Barney, Murphy, Rafe, and Rosalynn Saewert.

She is survived by her sisters Cleo Myhra and Cheryl Awe, and her brother, Terrance Steffens; brothers-in-law, Neil (Judy) Polifka, Owen Polifka, and John (Sharon) Polifka. Connie is preceded in death by her beloved husband Thomas in 2011, her daughter Kelley Lynne in 1966, her sister Carol Carraher, and her brothers Delmer, Lowell, and Orman Steffens. 

May she rest in eternal peace.