Kenneth Braaten

Kenneth N. Braaten, 87, Fargo, ND, formerly Wyndmere, ND, passed away Saturday, July 14, 2012 at Four Seasons Health Care Center, Forman, ND. The Funeral Service will be Thursday, July 19, 10:30 a.m., at Wyndmere Lutheran Church, Wyndmere, ND. Visitation will be one hour before the service at church. Interment will be at Gol-Aal Cemetery, rural Wyndmere. Arrangements are with Vertin-Munson Funeral Home, Wahpeton, ND.

Kenneth was born April 6, 1925 at rural Wyndmere, ND, the son of Tollef and Annette (Skare) Braaten. He graduated from Wyndmere High School in 1942 and attended Dakota Business College in Fargo. Kenneth married Marie Torkelson on November 23, 1957 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, MN. Ken purchased the Braaten farm from his father in 1956, which was homesteaded by his grandfather, Knute Braaten. He continued to farm and raise livestock north of Wyndmere until he retired in 1994. The couple moved to Fargo, ND in 2004 and Kenneth entered Four Seasons Health Care Center in May of 2012.

Kenneth was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, where he was a secretary of the church and was once chairman of Gol-Aal Cemetery Association. He was active in the area and had served on the Board of Directors of Richland County Farm Bureau, Director of the Kindred Oil Company, a charter member of the Wyndmere Rural Fire Protection Association, charter member of the Richland County Township Officers Association, member of the Wyndmere-Homestead Rural Telephone Company and a member of the North Dakota Stockmen's Association and the Sheyenne Valley Grazing Association. He has also served as a 4-H leader and Chairman of the Garborg Township Board of Supervisors and was chosen as Richland County's Outstanding Young Farmer by Wahpeton Jaycees. He enjoyed singing, he sang many years with Alphean Male Choir and for area weddings and funerals.

He is survived by his wife, Marie, Fargo, ND; his daughter Kimberly (Dan) Strand, Mapleton, MN; his son, Marshall (Rhonda) Braaten, Wyndmere, ND; three grandsons: Joshua Karl Braaten, Devin Marshall Braaten, and Mark Daniel Strand.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Newman Braaten, and his two sisters, Alice Urickson, and Altha Ewald.

Memorials are preferred to your favorite charity.