BIERMAN, Donald G.

BIERMAN, KLINGBEIL, ERICHSEN, HELLER, EHLER, REGENNITTER, SUTTER

Posted By: Lynette Edsall (email)
Date: 9/12/2006 at 11:28:48

Donald G. Bierman

CHEROKEE, Iowa -- Donald G. Bierman, 84, of Cherokee, formerly of Remsen, Iowa, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006, at Careage Hills in Cherokee.

Memorial services will be 2 p.m. Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cherokee, with the Rev. Richard Arndt officiating. There will be a family prayer service at 1:45 p.m. Friday at the church. It was his request to donate his body to the Mayo Clinic for Parkinson's disease research. Burial will be at a later date in Oak Hill Cemetery. There will be no visitation. Arrangements are under the direction of Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee.

Donald was born Oct. 18, 1921, on a farm north of Pierson, Iowa in Grand Meadow Township, Cherokee County, Iowa, to George P. and Marie E. (Klingbeil) Bierman. He was raised on a farm and graduated from Grand Meadow High School in 1939. He entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in August 1942, serving 33 months of his service time in the South Pacific. Upon his discharge from the service in December 1945, he went into mink farming.

He was married to Evelyn Erichsen on Jan. 3, 1949, at Christ Lutheran Church in Remsen, Iowa. The couple lived in the Grand Meadow area for two years, then moved their mink farm south of Remsen in 1952, where he lived until moving to Cherokee in 1978.

An avid outdoorsman all his life, he was a member of several mink breeder, fur harvester and wildlife organizations. He wrote several books on fur harvesting and also manufactured various scents to aid in fur bearing animal and predator control.

He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and a longtime member of the Parkinson's Foundation.

He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; two daughters, Janice Jean Heller of Kirkland, Wash., and Judy Ann and her husband, David Ehler of Holstein, Iowa; four grandchildren, Alan Heller of Kirkland, Wash., Eric Ehler of Holstein, Iowa, Shawn and her husband, Brian Regennitter of Holstein and Sara Ehler Sutter and her husband, Chad Sutter of Seattle, Wash.; a great-grandson, Tanner Regennitter; a brother and his wife, Wesley and Marion Bierman of Pierson, Iowa; a sister-in-law, Vivian Erichsen of Remsen, Iowa; and a nephew and several nieces.

He was preceded in death by his parents.