Marlin Berg

Obituary written by Marlin Berg.

I, Marlin Berg, was born in our rural home in Kandiyohi County, Minnesota on March 20, 1936 to Rueben and Cecil Berg. I lived on a dairy farm attending church at Bethel Lutheran Church in Willmar, attended grade school in a rural school and completed my high school education at Willmar Public School graduating in 1954.

I continued my education at the University of Minnesota receiving my Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Education in 1959. To further my career as a Vocational Agriculture Instructor, I received my Master of Science Degree in Agricultural Education at South Dakota State University in 1968.

On June 26, 1959, I was married to Donna Ruth Paulson at Atwater, Minnesota. The next day we traveled to Jasper, Minnesota where I was hired by the Jasper High School to start their high school agricultural education program. I taught Ag and was FFA adviser at Jasper High School for six years. The chapter grew to include a membership of 62 and with many successful judging teams, including two state winning teams. I also started an Adult Farm Management program including ten families.

In the fall of 1965, I started teaching in Pipestone, MN and the program grew from 1 to 4 instructors. The Pipestone FFA Chapter was very active with membership reaching over 100 members. I had a great love for my job as teacher of agriculture and advisor of the FFA Chapter. My goals were to develop and promote agriculture, and to develop leadership skills that would help students achieve the skills needed to lead productive rewarding careers in the field of agriculture.

My favorite success of being an agriculture instructor is to watch the many FFA students grow to adulthood, pursuing careers in agriculture or careers that use the leadership skills learned in FFA. It gave me great pleasure watching them raise families, contributing to the community, and receiving assistance from them when I needed a helping hand. I credit my family for much of my success sharing their time on evenings and weekends and giving encouragement and support.

Retirement was a struggle so Donna and I developed a Real Estate Appraisal Business. We enjoyed working together and hopefully were a service to rural people who needed this service.

Donna and I had four children, Barbara, Philip, Daniel and Daryl who most days I was very proud of their accomplishments. Each married great partners and then provided us with twelve grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren. Both our children and grandchildren have been very good to us helping us with my farming dreams and filling my time with many spectator activities.

Survivors include Marlin's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Barbara and Jerry Lindberg, Philip and Laurel Berg, Daniel and Lora Berg, and Daryl and Mary Berg. Grandchildren and spouses include Emily and Zach Kingston, Timothy and Sarah Lindberg, Samantha and Evan Koep, Andrew and Kiah Berg, Hannah Berg, Isaac and Elizabeth Berg, Ethan Berg, and Evan Berg, Joshua and Emily Berg, Jason and Hanna Berg, Brandon and Anna Berg, and Haley Berg and Joey Rosencrans. Great-grandchildren, Adelyn, Marley, Charlotte, Harper, Lauren, Weston, Danny, Miller, Josie, Ruth, Bria, and Nora. Preceded in death was the love of his life and wife, Donna Ruth Paulson Berg. Also, preceding him in death was his sister, Carol and Allen Rambow, and other family members Eunice and Marlin Amos, and Rob Paulson.