Donald Eugene Fink

Donald Eugene Fink was born August 30, 1917 and went to his heavenly home May 19, 2008 at the age of 90 years, 8 months and 19 days. Donald, the eldest of four sons of Eugene and Mildred (Riddle) Fink, was born and grew up on the Fink family farm near Deloit. He received his elementary education in Goodrich # 1 country school, the same school his father had attended. One of many of the stories he would tell was how he would jump the Otto Creek and run to school to arrive before the bell rang after having completed his assigned chores at home. Donald was one of the eleven that graduated from Deloit High School in 1935, graduating with honors as class valedictorian. After graduation, Donald worked for Floyd Leaders in his bee business, proudly telling of the fact he worked from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for $1.00 a day. As the bee business was seasonal he drove truck with Johnny Lorenzen during the off season. On May 12, 1940, Donald was united in marriage with Kathryn E. Nielsen at the First Baptist Church in Denison. They resided in Deloit until December of 1947, when they moved to the Fink family farm. Three children were born to Donald and Kathryn: Sharon Kay, Ronald Dale and Donald Dean. Pop, as his children called him, was a natural-born progressive farmer. Most of the Fink farm was hilly and Pop early on used strip farming, terraces and other conservation practices. In 1975, Donald and Kathryn moved from the farm to Denison. He semi-retired, but continued to farm with his youngest son, Donald, until he reached the young age of 75. One afternoon while Kathryn was reading the paper she saw an ad of needing help at the Super Wash and mentioned it to Donald, he went to visit with Eric Skoog and started working that "Very Day." He enjoyed visiting with the people and looked forward to the challenges of the operation. Donald served on the REC (now known as Western Iowa Power Coop) board as a director from September of 1960 until resigning in January of 1989. Both Donald and Kathryn were longtime active members of the Deloit Methodist Church until it?s closing when they transferred their membership to First United Methodist Church in Denison. Donald had many interests that occupied his spare time including reading westerns and love stories, listing to polka music, fishing, photography, traveling, wine making, baking homemade bread, rock collecting, sorting, cleaning and polishing them and spending a great amount of time enjoying the company of their faithful family dog, Sam. Following the death of his beloved wife of over 67 years, Kathryn, on November 26, 2007, Donald remained in his apartment until entering Eventide in Denison April 8th, of this year. He died Monday afternoon at Crawford County Memorial Hospital in Denison. Including his parents and his wife, Donald was preceded in death by granddaughter, Jennifer Fink in 1981, son-in-law, the Rev. Joseph Boysen in 2002 and daughter, Sharon K. Boysen in 2004. Those remaining to cherish and honor his memory include two sons and their wives, Ronald and Deb Fink of Denison and Donald and Betty Fink of Deloit, four grandchildren, Shannon Fink of Kansas City, Kansas, Sean Fink of Urbana, Iowa, Jessica and husband, Nick Pilling of Clive, Iowa and Jeff Fink of Denison, three brothers and their spouses, Harold and Margery Fink of Denison, Mervin and Lorena Fink of Denison and Charles and Arnie Fink of Maryville, California, other relatives and friends. Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, May 23, 2008, at the First United Methodist Church in Denison with the Rev. Alberta Ervin officiating. Music for the service was provided by Eldon Hardekopf singing "On Eagles Wings" and the congregation singing, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Amazing Grace" and "Old Rugged Cross" with Nancy Miles serving as pianist. Honorary Pallbearers included Chuck Fina, Virgil Boeck, Eric Skoog, Pam Scanlan, Esther Soenksen, Duane Neppl and Garry Chapman. Pallbearers were Sean Fink, Jeff Fink, Kevin Fink and Jeanie Fink. Interment was at the Deloit Cemetery, Deloit, Iowa. Following the interment all were invited to return to the church and join the family in fellowship and a meal served by the United Methodist Women. The Pfannebecker Funeral Home in Denison was in charge of arrangements where online condolences may be directed to www.pfannebecker.com .