Obituary of David Hartley

David Hartley, 99, of Duluth, died in the early morning hours of Monday, Aug. 24, 2015 at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth. Hartley was born May 25, 1916 at 3800 East Superior Street in Duluth, the home of parents Carolyn (Munger) and Cavour Hartley. He attended Duluth schools and The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Yale University in 1938. He then attended law school for one year at the University of Michigan. In 1940, his mining career began on northeast Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range with the Oliver Mining Company. He worked at several mines as foreman until he got his draft notice in May 1941. He worked for "Big" Bill Welton at Missabe Mountain at the time, and lived at Ensel Smith's boarding house at 709 Third Street South in Virginia. David was drafted in Duluth by the U.S. Army Air Corps, and remembers his chums (including Art Hoene) tossing wild rice at him at the Duluth Depot as a means of send-off. After an overnight stay at Fort Snelling, his aviator father buzzed the inductees in his stagger wing Beechcraft before David was dispatched by rail to March Field in Riverside, Calif., (which he described as a "country club"). On this trip, he met his lifelong friend, Swede Fellman, from Plummer. Hartley was first an Armorer responsible for maintaining Company C 48th Pursuit squadron's P40 aircraft machine guns, then a Weather Observer. On Dec. 8, 1941, he was shipped to Muroc Army Air Field in the Mojave Desert (later renamed Edwards AFB) where he continued Observer duties in support of the B26 outfit. He was accepted into OCS at Fort Belvoir, Virginia in February 1942 (where he received "real" basic training) as Combat Engineer, followed by assignment to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Amphibian Command at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod, Mass., as Instructor of civilian officer training, then time at Higgins Industries in New Orleans to master knockdown, packing, and reassembly of Higgins landing craft - both 36' wood and 50' steel versions. In early 1943, he was dispatched to Dobadura Airport at Oro Bay in Papua New Guinea where, as Company Commander, he was responsible for base site selection followed by Higgins craft assembly supervision at Milne Bay. From there until he was discharged in May of 1946, he was assigned airstrip maintenance on Biak Island in the Dutch East Indies. After his World War II service, he returned to shift work at the Prindle mine near Parkville, and was later promoted to assistant superintendent back at the Spruce underground where he had first started. By the time he retired from U.S. Steel in 1970 as Minntac Mine Superintendent, he had worked at numerous underground and open pit mines, including Hull-Nelson, Missabe Mountain, Minnewas, Mountain Iron, Canton, Stevens, Rouchleau, and Pilotac. Hartley later worked for Mineral Services Inc. on a variety of projects, including developing the Caraiba copper mine in northeast Brazil, and an iron ore mine in Mauritania, followed by years working for Dow Chemical, and also being engaged in his family's property management. Mr. Hartley married Janice Hartley of Everett, Wash., in June of 1950. They resided in Eveleth and there raised five children. He was a member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, and served on the Board of Directors of the Eveleth Library, the Eveleth Fire Commission, the Community Fund (now United Way of Northeastern Minnesota), Iron Range Rehabilitation Center, the State of Minnesota Waste Management Board (part of MPCA), the St. Mary Parish Land Company (now SM Energy), and as President of the Engineers' Club of Northeastern Minnesota. Upon his marriage to Carmen (Wahlberg) Romano on Nov. 27, 1976 he moved to Hermantown and later Duluth, where - in his words - "he lived happily ever after." Hartley was most content out-of-doors, and remained extraordinarily active - a true outdoorsman and sportsman - throughout his life and well into his '90's. His activities included every sort of hunting, fishing, trap and skeet shooting, camping, portaging, and canoeing with family and friends across Minnesota and the Dakotas - one his favorites being fishing with Carmen. He was a natural born woodsman, splitting the hundreds of cords of wood necessary to operate and maintain the 1905 maple syrup camp originated by his grandfather (G.G. Hartley) for over 60 years. David's outdoor way of life and love of nature came at his father's knee, and was inherited from generations that preceded him. Throughout his life he held conservation and preservation of wildlife in deep and abiding regard. He was preceded in death by his parents, Carolyn and Cavour, and three brothers, John of South Laguna Calif., Alfred of Duluth, and Edward W. of Duluth. He is survived by his wife, Carmen of Duluth; daughters Elizabeth (Michael) Lenich of Eveleth, Jane (Thomas) Kingston of Fayal Township, Dr. Susan Hartley of Maple Plain, and Anne (Bruce) Anderson of Berthoud Colo.; son John (Aisha) Hartley of Minnetonka; step-sons Mark (Donalda) Romano of Hermantown, and Loren (MaryAnn) Romano of Bethesda MD; 11 grandchildren (Charles, Carolyn, Maren, Noel, Helen Rose, Heather, Donald, Thomas, Brian, David, Alexandra) and four great-grandchildren (Madelyn, Jack, Avery, Sophie). MEMORIAL SERVICE: 1 p.m. Friday, Aug, 28, 2015 in Grace Lutheran Church, 5454 Miller Trunk Highway in Hermantown, with Pastor Phil Berge officiating, preceded by visitation at 12 Noon and a luncheon following in the church. Inurnment will be at the Hartley family plot in Forest Hills Cemetery at a later date. Memorials are preferred to United Way of Northeastern Minnesota of Greater Duluth, The Mayo Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, or the Eveleth Area Community Foundation or to the church of your choice. Services entrusted to Cremation Society of Minnesota, 218-624-5200.