Earl Stoltenow

Earl Loyal Stoltenow, 93, Wahpeton ND, formerly of Great Bend ND and Summit Township ND, died on Monday, October 23, 2017, at CHI St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge MN.

Earl was born on February 10, 1924, to Reuben and Emma (Pasbrig) Stoltenow of Summit Township. He was baptized at the Zion Evangelical United Brethren Church in Great Bend. At the age of 9, Earl moved with his family from the farm to Great Bend. He started his education at Summit #1, a one room country school house, continued at the Great Bend Public School through ninth grade, and graduated from Wahpeton High School in 1941. He attended the University of North Dakota where he played football. While a student at UND, he resided in the north tower of Memorial Stadium.

During World War II, Earl served his country in the US Merchant Marine transporting troops and supplies, while toiling in the engine room of the Paducah and the Sea Snype. Earl’s telephone calls home during the war were mostly directed to ‘Daisy’, his girlfriend in Hankinson ND. Party lines made long-distance telephone conversations nearly impossible and many times Daisy’s country school students would relay his attempted weekend conversations to her on Monday morning.

On October 10, 1947, Earl married his sweet ‘Daisy’, Albertine Marie Herzog. In their first year of marriage, they moved to the Reuben Stoltenow farm, 4 miles east and 1 mile north of Great Bend. It was a severe winter their first year on the farm and the daily commute to Great Bend for Albertine’s teaching job often proved too much for their 1940 Ford automobile, so they would ride the saddle horse or in a horse drawn sleigh.

Besides grain farming, Earl and his father, Reuben, started a herd of Registered Hereford Cattle, which they showed at the Valley City Winter Show. Earl helped organize the Richland County Livestock Improvement Association and continued his cattle interests with a feeder cattle and cow/calf ranching operation in southeastern ND. He was a member of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association for decades and served as the 1986-1988 NDSA President.

Earl received the 1957 Richland County Outstanding Farmer Award, was a Supervisor in Summit Township, and served as president of the Richland County Township Officers Association. He was elected a ND State Legislator, representing District 25 from 1967-1975. Earl was an original stockholder of the Minn-Dak Sugar Beet Cooperative, one of the first trustees for the Ted Sedler Memorial Scholarship, and served as Chairman of the 1981 Great Bend Centennial Celebration.

Earl and baseball were synonymous in the Great Bend area. Earl played and coached Great Bend Amateur Baseball and continued to coach American Legion Baseball and Babe Ruth Baseball in Great Bend for decades. He coached three generations of baseball players, including his brother, his three sons, two grandsons and a grand-nephew. He was inducted into the North Dakota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame and the North Dakota Babe Ruth Baseball Hall of Fame.

Earl was a member of the Zion Evangelical United Brethren Church in Great Bend which later became the Zion United Methodist Church. He served as Lay Leader and taught the Senior High/Young Adult Sunday School Class for over 20 years. A founding member of Faith Church in Wahpeton, Earl and Albertine organized the church’s first Christmas Day Dinner which continues each year. Earl’s faith in the LORD Jesus was consistent throughout his life and he was always very careful to shut down all the farm equipment by midnight Saturday night, embracing Sundays as ‘the LORD’s Day’, a day of rest.

Earl and Albertine were blessed with four children: Terry Earl (1949), Rocky Dean (1951), Cheri Lynn (1954), and Charles Loyal (1959). Earl encouraged his children to pursue their interests and spent many hours on bleachers watching his sons participate in football, baseball, and wrestling, and his daughter in recitals, concerts, and theater productions.

Earl is survived by Albertine, his bride of 70 years, and their children: Terry (Sharon) Stoltenow, Harrisburg SD; Rocky (Lyn) Stoltenow, Wahpeton ND; Cheri (Kim) Reiswig, Moorhead MN, Charles (Lyn) Stoltenow, Moorhead MN;

His 20 grandchildren: Susan (Jeremy) Bill, Sioux Falls SD; Caren (Josh) Loebs, Bismarck ND; Nate (Bekah) Stoltenow, Salt Lake City UT; Beth (Jim) Loken, rural Wahpeton ND; Emma (Jay) Schnell, rural Wahpeton ND; Jackson Reiswig, Port Charlotte, FL; Copper (Michael) Webb, Meridian ID; Kip (Calah) Reiswig, Oklahoma City OK; Allegra Reiswig, Aurora CO; Kegan Reiswig, Denver CO; Josiah (Berkeley) Reiswig, Columbia SC; Simeon (Mariah) Reiswig, Fargo ND; Cedar Stoltenow, Chicago IL; Cale Stoltenow, Grand Forks, ND; Seth Stoltenow, Grand Forks, ND; Graham Stoltenow, Fargo ND; Faith (Elijah) Morman, Moorhead MN; Libby, Kenan, and Claire Stoltenow, Moorhead MN;

His 22 great grandchildren: Wyatt and Elliana Bill; Valeska, Lorelei, Afton, and Jase Stoltenow; Mauer, Brooks, Shae, and Greta Loken; Grayson, Finnian, Juliet, and Myla Schnell; Ally and Jax Reiswig; Canon, Desmond, Hazel, and Sawyer Webb; Peyton Reiswig; Ivy Morman.

Earl is also survived by a brother-in-law, Ken Spitzer, Kensal ND, and 15 nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents: Reuben and Emma Stoltenow; his sisters, Eleanor Fitzgerald and Eileen Larson; his brother, Manville Stoltenow; his parents-in-law, Leo and Ethel Herzog; his sisters-in-law Alice Stoltenow, June Herzog, and Maxine Spitzer; and brothers-in-law, “Doc” Fitzgerald, Lowell Larson, and Don Herzog; and a granddaughter, Jemma Stoltenow.

Visitation will be Saturday, October 28, 2017, from 2 pm – 4 pm with a funeral service at 4 pm at Faith Church, 1589 11th Street North, Wahpeton ND with Pastor Jared Clausen officiating. Interment will at Zion United Methodist Cemetery in Great Bend ND.  Arrangements by Vertin-Munson Funeral Home, Wahpeton ND.

Earl's Memorial Folder