Gordon O. Balken
MOTLEY - Gordon O. Balken, age 81, of Motley, died Wednesday morning, Feb. 4, 2009, at the Lakewood Health System Hospital in Staples, Minn. Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, at Hamar Lutheran Church in Rothsay, Minn., with the Rev. Paul Huso officiating. Interment will be in Hamar Cemetery. Friends may call for one hour prior to services at the church on Saturday.
Gordon Oswald Balken was born on April 4, 1927, in Wilken County, Minn., the son of Oscar and Mary (Kjono) Balken. He graduated from Breckenridge High School and following his schooling he entered the United States Army near the end of WWII. Returning to Minnesota he went to work for Otter Tail Power Co. In 1957 he started working for Minnesota Power eventually becoming a line foreman, retiring in 1983. In 1956 he married Dorothy Henry in Webster, S.D. The couple was able to share over 52 years of marriage together. Following his retirement they were able to winter in Sun City, Ariz., for 20 winters. He was an avid outdoorsman who loved to fish, hunt, snowmobile and anything else involving being in the great outdoors.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar and Mary; a brother, Rueben; and sisters, Jeanette Koehnen and Ruby Balken. Gordon will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his wife, Dorothy, of Motley; children, Deborah (Daniel) Finney, of St. Vincent, Minn., Gordon N. Balken, of Fayetteville, N.C., and Eva (Bruce) Haber, of Motley, Minn.; grandchildren, Aaron (Jaime) Haber, Megan Haber, Sarah Powers, Stephen Rivera and Bryant Finney; great-grandchild, Ethan Haber; and sisters, Sandy Eddy, of Eden Prairie, Minn., Margaret Faut, of Sun City, Ariz., and Maelene Bond, of Gold Canyon, Ariz.
Arrangements are entrusted to Brenny Funeral Chapel of Staples.