Obituary of Marlan Donald Stole

MARLAN DONALD STOLE

February 10, 1935 - March 27, 2019

Marlan Donald Stole was born on February 10, 1935, at Halstad, MN, the middle child of Alfred and Mabel Stole.  Growing up in a small town was a great adventure, and it shaped his life. He graduated from Halstad High School in 1953 and furthered his education at Interstate Business College in Fargo, ND.

Along the way, Marlan met Marge. They were married on December 20, 1958, and recently celebrated 60 years of marriage!  Their son Scott was born on June 20, 1963, and the family lived in Fargo until Marlan transferred to Bloomington in 1970, where they lived in the same house for 46 years!

After college, Marlan accepted a job at the Allis Chalmers Corporation and stayed with the company for 34 years - 14 in Fargo and 20 in Bloomington.  During those years, the accounting department transitioned from manual operations to computers, so he took a crash course at the IBM school in Minneapolis and proceeded to make drastic changes!  Working with farm machinery was always a joy. For 15 consecutive years, he worked every day on Machinery Hill during the Minnesota State Fair selling Allis Chalmers machinery. After his retirement, he sold Dixie Chopper lawn mowers and other lines of equipment and won three trips - to Las Vegas, Hawaii, and the Bahamas!

Marlan was proud of his military service, which included six years in the Air National Guard.  He enjoyed woodworking, mechanics, and pickup trucks - and loved to see how high he could blow the snow!

The family, including his talented grandchildren and great grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews, were very important to Marlan.  He was proud of all of them.

Marlan had a strong faith and was an active member in the church.  He served as an usher for 60 years, and spent many hours using his various skills to help maintain the buildings.  He believed that “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. So either way, we win!” He was a good man, who was easy to love, and he will be sorely missed.  When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, “I would like to be remembered as a happy man.”

He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Roger.  He is survived by his wife Marge, son Scott (Donna) Stole; granddaughter Alison (Joe) Pogatchnik; grandsons Matthew and Austin Stole; great grandchildren Kylie, Joe, and Baby Pogatchnik; sister Janice (Wayne) Oak, sister-in-law Grace Stole; many nieces and nephews; and a host of friends.