With Sympathy-
 Dave & Darla Goerend and Family
                        St. Lucas, IA

Frank was a wonderful friend, an excellent teacher and a great mentor. I had the good fortune to work for Frank for several years in the early 1980's in the Luther College Treasurer's Office. I learned many things from him - everything from the intricacies of fund accounting, to the dignity of willingly doing any job that needed to be done, not matter how lowly or menial it might seem to others. And along with being enthusiastic teacher, Frank was an avid learner. I remember him taking the Certified Management Accountant exam, not because he wanted more initials after his name, but because he loved the challenge of testing his knowledge. And he maintained a positive outlook on life, he liked to bring a smile to peoples' faces. Maybe it'd be by introducing Marge as his first wife, or by suggesting that he start signing documents as F.Russell, in keeping with his colleagues H. George and A. Thomas. Frank indeed created a lot of goodness in his 95 years, and the world is a better place because of him.

To the Barth Family
     Please accept our condolences for the recent loss of Frank. Frank was a "oner" and will be missed greatly by all.
     Linda and I had the pleasure of getting to see both Frank and Marg often following our move to Arizona several years ago. It was simply a delight to spend time with them and I don't think there was ever an occasion when I didn't feel smarter when I left them than I did when I arrived. We had many wonderful conversation but I particularly enjoyed our discussions of the turbulent times of trying to run a College in the late 60s that he wrote about in his book.
     What a life that man had!

                                Curt and Linda Ritland

Frank Barth was a friend of mine.  That hardly put me in an exclusive club.  Frank seemed to attract friends like bees to honey.  He knew the secret of making friends, but it was no conscious strategy with him.  He just liked people; he was genuinely interested in everything about them.  People recognized that about him immediately, and it endeared him to them. 

Frank Barth was a friend of mine.  What an odd thing to say.  He was after all, about a quarter-century my senior; he was of my father's generation.  One of my best grade school classmates was his eldest son Gene.  I later worked with his second son Frank, Jr., in the Upward Bound program at Luther College.  And his youngest son Jibber (James) and I each married into the same family.  We weren't really brothers-in-law, I guess, but that's the way we felt about each other.

Jibs and I attended one of the early Nobel Conferences at Gustavus Adolphus College during the '70s.  As President, Frank was host-in-chief.  I remember whispering to Jibs my compliments for Frank's presence and grace, even as he had to moderate a rather heated moral discussion between two speakers.  Style and grace; that was Frank.

Some decades ago, I received a phone call offering me a place on the scholarship selection board for the SOO Line Railroad. The corporation gave out 15 scholarships a year to children and grandchildren of SOO Line employees.  Mystified, but honored, I accepted.  

Receiving copies of all the applications in April, I diligently entered all the numerical data on a spreadsheet, made copies for the other unknown (to me) members of the committee, and headed down to SOO Line corporate headquarters in Minneapolis in May.  

I was ushered into the meeting room, and there sat Frank, smiling.  Suddenly it was all clear.  A position had opened up on the board, and Frank had nominated me.  He introduced me to the other member of the board, Frances Naftalin, another extraordinary person.  I handed out copies of my spreadsheet with all the numbers upon it; Frank just had a little scrap of paper covered with his wisdom.  

We discussed and discussed all morning, broke for a pleasant lunch together, and came back to make the final decisions.  Never was there any coercion or pressure exerted; we just talked things through, and came to common decisions.  As we were wrapping up, I sneaked a look at Frank's little scrap of paper, the choices he had made before the meeting.  It contained the exact same names we had just spent the day discussing.  

I so looked forward to those annual meetings, for the opportunity to be with Fran and Frank.  Frank also kept us moving—he was our actual but unspoken leader—but he always kept things light, even though we had to “endure” may of his corny jokes!  Our board survived the merger with the Milwaukee Road, but soon after the purchase of the merged companies by Canadian Pacific, we were outsourced.  Thereafter, it was only a chance meeting or two in Decorah, and Christmas cards.  I lost track after they moved back from Arizona.  

Opportunities.  Frank knew how to capture them.  Witness his wooing of Marge, encompassing nearly ¾ of a century.  Marge, an extraordinary person in her own right.  By the way, if you are ever invited to sit in on a card game with Marge, and there is money on the table, I can tell you from experience, run for your financial life!

Frank and Marge were part of what Tom Brokaw deservedly called the Greatest Generation, those who helped win the war, and came back to build America's economic Golden Age.  They deserved to be proud, for their many accomplishments.  But unlike so many people of success and accomplishment today, their favorite first-person pronoun was the plural form “we”.  I remember feeling an undeserved pride when he included me in his “we” as he described those sweeps of history of which he played a part.  

Frank Barth was a friend of mine, a trans-generational friend.  There is one extraordinary parallel in our two lives.  Frank was a navigator in the Navy for an air transport squadron.  So was I.  Frank's squadron was home-based in Hawaii.  So was mine.  His squadron was later merged and re-designated into mine.  His war was WWII.  Mine was Viet Nam.  But we both did the same work, at the same base, in the same squadron.  Just a generation apart.  Of that identity, I am very proud.

I have so many wonderful memories of Uncle Frank.  One of my favorites is when he would let me pretend "drive" while Aunt Marge was scolding him for -letting me do it.  He was a one-of-a-kind man and he always had time for everyone. I know he will be missed here but the reception for him in heaven must be quite the party!

Hearhfelt condolences to the Barth family from Leslie and Larry Haatvedt.  We are very sorry we cannot attend the funeral service.  As when my mother Helen passed in 2001, this is truly the end of an era we shall not forget.

OBITUARY

Frank Russell Barth

March 19, 1918 – August 22, 2013

The Runge Mortuary & Crematory

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