Kenneth Ervin

Kenneth “Ken” Ervin, age 93, passed away from natural causes at his home in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Thursday, August 13, 2009. Memorial services will be held on Monday at 1:30 PM at Eastgate Funeral Service in Bismarck with Rev. Darrel Aleson officiating. Burial will be at the ND Veteran’s Cemetery. Ken was born to Harry and Myrtle Ervin on November 29, 1915, on the family farm near Granite Falls, Minnesota. He was one of nine children and was educated in Granite Falls. After leaving the family farm, he worked for electrical power-line building contractors throughout the American Midwest and South. During WWII he trained as an Army paratrooper in Camp Gordon, Georgia, and later served in the Army Engineers, building and maintaining runways in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska. After the war, he returned to Minnesota, and in May of 1947, married Gladys Payne in Benson, Minnesota. At the time of his marriage he had already begun working for Agra-Lite Rural Electric Co-operative in Benson, and he continued to work with rural electric co-operatives in Minnesota and North Dakota for more than 30 years. Eventually, he worked for Oliver/Mercer Electric in Hazen, North Dakota, where he served as general manager from 1962 until he retired in October of 1978. He and Gladys then moved to Lake Osakis, Minnesota, where they spent the summer months for the next 18 years before moving to Bismarck in 1996. During the winter months starting in 1978, they lived first in Tempe and then Mesa, Arizona, and continued to do so until 2007 when they began residing in Bismarck year round. Ken enjoyed hunting, fishing, golfing, playing cards, and snowmobiling in his spare time, and was a particularly good fisherman, taking many fishing trips to Minnesota and Canada with friends and family. He also served on the Hazen, North Dakota, city council during the late 1960’s Ken enjoyed his family, his work, his outdoors activities, and life in general. He lived a long, full life and will be missed by his family and friends. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Gladys of Bismarck and his two children, Becky Hanwell and her husband, Virgil, of Hazen, North Dakota, and Tim Ervin and his wife, Karyn, of Riverton, Wyoming. He is also survived by one brother, Ben; one sister, Helen; as well as by five grandchildren and one great-grandson. He was preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Myrtle Ervin; five brothers, Doc, Everett, Wallace, Jim, and Walter; one sister, Jesse; and one grandson, Kiel Brennan.

Kenneth Ervin

November 29, 1915 - August 13, 2009