Alvin Almer

Alvin Almer, 81, Tuttle, died September 1, 2010, at his farm home north of Tuttle. Services will be held at 11:00 am Saturday at English Lutheran Church, Tuttle, with Rev. Valerie Kinlan officiating. Burial will be held in the Goodrich Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm Friday at Eastgate-Steele Memorial Chapel, Steele. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Alvin was born August 13, 1929, near Goodrich, to Daniel and Marie Meier Almer. He graduated from Tuttle High School in 1948. He taught one year in a country school near Dickinson after graduation. While in high school, he played basketball and enjoyed amateur baseball in the summers for many years. Alvin attended one quarter of school at the North Dakota Agricultural College in Fargo. While there he met Marlys Thompson of Wyndmere and they were married on October 21, 1950. They made their home north of Tuttle on the Daniel Almer farm, moving to their present farm in 1962. He served as Stewart Township treasurer, was on the Tuttle School Board, and was a member of the Tuttle Wildlife Club for many years. Family memories include how much Alvin believed in farming, John Deere tractors, Ford pickups and “clearing the land.” Acres and acres of brush were burned and enough rocks were picked, hauled, bulldozed, raked and buried to reach the moon and back-just ask his family or any of the many kids and adults he hired to pick rock through the years. Once the land was cleared, he believed in planting durum, durum, and more durum. Farming practices in those years deemed that land which was summer fallowed had to be black and Alvin’s fields were kept pitch black. Later in life, he became the official bale hauler using the only bale wagon in the area. Just this past summer he remarked that he wished he could still haul bales. Alvin enjoyed a lot of “quality time” with his grandkids as they were growing up. This quality time involved boxing gloves, torrential water fights sorry, Grandma!, remote control car races, and shooting baskets yes, in the house for quarters. Grandpa Alvin also loved to wager with the grandkids and other people as well on virtually anything and everything, from game show answers to Twins games or how much a field was going to yield. For some reason, Grandpa always had to pay his debts and the grandkids did not! As everyone knows, you can always tell a German, but you can’t tell him much. This was very true of our Dad, who was proud of his German ancestry but loved lutefisk nonetheless. Despite his sometimes gruff exterior, our Dad truly had a soft spot for anyone down on their luck. Alvin is survived by his wife of 59 years, Marlys, Tuttle; his three children, Wesley Cindy Almer, Allen Myra Almer and Joni Tracy Magstadt; his grandchildren, Joey, Travis Michelle, Billi Jo, Morgan, Troy Rochelle Brooke, Marin, and Drew; his great grandchildren, Tyler, Wyatt, Maya, and Quincy; his brothers, Merle Albertine, Eugene Liz, and Dean; his sisters, Delores Leland and Harriet Solheim; and many special nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; and one great-granddaughter, Jacqueline. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to Farm Rescue or to English Lutheran Church, Tuttle.

Alvin Almer

August 13, 1929 - September 1, 2010