Donald Fred Pollert

The funeral service for Donald Pollert, 89, Fargo, North Dakota formerly of Litchville, North Dakota will be 11 am Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at Trinity Lutheran Church, rural Litchville. Visitation will be 5-7 pm Monday, at the Oliver-Nathan Funeral Chapel, Valley City with a prayer service at 7pm. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Donald passed away February 14, at Eventide, Fargo. Donald's service will be viewable via livestream at https://vimeo.com/event/4096541 Donald Fred Pollert was born May 24, 1934, to Albert “Bud” and Edna (Simonsen) Pollert on the family farm near Douglas, North Dakota. He was the third of seven children. He moved to the Griswold community, six miles south of Litchville, North Dakota, with his family when he was four years old. Donald attended grade school at Prairie Township #1, a one-room country school 80 rods east of his childhood home. He would either walk or ride his bike to school each day, graduating from the eighth grade. As a youth, Donald was a 4-H member and later became a leader of the North LaMoure Go-Getters 4-H Club. Donald was bound to the land from the day of his birth and never strayed too far from home. As an elementary lad, he could be seen dragging a field that his dad had seeded earlier in the day. Donald became his dad’s “left-hand man” at the age of seven after Bud lost his arm in a corn shredder accident. The duo continued to farm together until the late 1950’s. On June 1, 1957, Donald was united in marriage to Georgine Klever. They lived south of Litchville where they farmed growing small grains, corn, soybeans and raising Hereford cattle. Together they raised their family of three daughters and one son. Donald developed a skill of building homes when working with local carpenter Charley TenClay back in the late 1960s, early 1970s. He was part of a construction crew who built homes during the winter months. He used his knowledge to design and helped build the home he lived in on the Pollerosa until October 2022 when he became a resident of Eventide Senor Living Communities, Fargo ND. Many winter months were also spent driving the southeast school bus route (Griswold) for the Litchville and Litchville-Marion school districts. Donald cherished the moments when he drove the bus for his son’s basketball games from fourth grade through the 1991 state tournament. His bus driving responsibilities expanded beyond the school. At times he drove tour groups that his wife Georgine had coordinated to their destination. He also drove the Bismarck State Mystics basketball team, which his son was a team member, to the national tournament in Michigan. To supplement his farming income, Donald sold grain seed for Cargill and Mycogen for 35-plus years. He earned several top salesman awards, earning trips to national conventions. Beginning in the 1960’s, he and his dad began to custom combine for area farmers. Donald continued to offer his services each harvest season for the next six decades reaping small grains, corn and soybeans first with his Oliver-White and later with his Massey rotary combines. Donald was a member and director of the Old Time Tractor Pull Association. He loved going to pulls with his Oliver 66 row crop tractor that he restored. His office walls were decorated with numerous shelves displaying all of the awards he won at contests. Besides his family, Donald’s pride and joy was his restoration of a 1944 Oliver 80 Standard. His father purchased this tractor new and Donald helped log many hours across hundreds of acres of land. The family eventually sold the tractor to a neighbor and decades later it was found parked in a grove of trees. Several trees had to be cut down in order to get it out. It took Donald a couple of years to complete the restoration process. Once completed, Donald could be seen with a big smile and waving to onlookers when driving in community parades and at antique plowing gatherings. His favorite vacations were the times spent fishing in Canada with his brother Clayton, elk hunting in Montana and Colorado with his brother Ken, pheasant and deer hunting with his son Daniel, neighbors, and other relatives. Donald was a lifetime member and officer of the Litchville Wildlife Club, raising pheasants for the club for many years. He was member and director of the Future Pheasants Inc. Marion, a lifetime member of the North American hunting club. He also served several terms on the Prairie Township Board. He retired from farming in 2001, but that did not mean he would no longer be “outstanding in his field.” Donald thoroughly enjoyed his part-time employment at Plains Grain and Agronomy, Marion plant driving the fertilizer and water truck. Donald showed his love for the Lord in many ways. He was an active, lifelong member of Trinity Lutheran Church serving as council president, deacon, trustee, and cemetery sexton. Those left to cherish his memory are his four children, Pam (Dean) Aakre, Barnesville, MN, Janelle (Blake) Evert, Madison, WI, Kimberly (Jason) Coffel, Fountain Hills, AZ and Daniel, Bismarck, ND; seven grandchildren, Nicholas (Abby) Aakre, Washington, D.C., Kelsey (Cory) Buchholz, Garretson, SD, Elizabeth Aakre, Sioux Falls, SD, Charles Aakre, Barnesville, MN, Benjamin Evert, Madison, WI, Jonathan Evert, Fridley, MN and Megan Coffel, Louisville, KY; five great-grandchildren, Ezekiel Aakre, Colton, Caylix, Coyer and Kenley Buchholz; two brothers, Clayton (Virginia) Pollert, Onalaska, WI and Ken (Pat) Pollert, West Fargo, ND; and many nieces and nephews. Preceding him in death was his wife, Georgine, in April 2015; his parents; one brother, Mural Pollert and three sisters, Leona Severson, Lila Lebahn, Phyllis Smedshammer. Memorials may be directed to the Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery Fund.

Donald Fred Pollert

May 24, 1934 - February 14, 2024