Arthur Myron Berg

Arthur Myron Berg

Arthur Myron Berg, 94, a Kremlin farmer, master carpenter and woodworker and World War II veteran, died Thursday, Jan. 12, of natural causes at Northern Montana Care Center in Havre.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a. m. Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, at the First Lutheran Church in Havre, with Pastor Michael O'Hearn officiating. Burial with full military honors will follow at Highland Cemetery. Memorials in Arthur's honor may be made to the Kremlin Lutheran Church or the NMCC chapel piano fund. Services and arrangements have been entrusted to Holland & Bonine Funeral Home.

Art was born near Kremlin on the homestead of his parents, August Berg and Margith Skjoldhammer, on July 8, 1917. He was the eighth of 11 children. He was born in the bedroom he and his wife of 66 years, Vera "Pat" Berg, slept in until they moved to the care center in 2008.

Art was a lifelong member of Kremlin Lutheran Church. He was baptized in the church in 1917.

Art went to school in Havre, Fresno and Kremlin. When he started school, he knew very little English, as Norwegian was the language the family spoke at home. He and his siblings went to school with a horse and buggy until November each year, when the family would move to Kremlin for the winter.

The family had dairy cows and a milk route in Kremlin. It was Art's job to deliver the milk before school and after supper, selling it for 10 cents per quart, delivered.

In the spring of 1935, Art started farming on his own, after he got a lease for a quarter-section of ground. Slowly, he built up his leases and began to purchase land.

He enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Forces in World War II in 1941. He attended welding school in Illinois and was eventually sent to England, where he joined an air repair company. One morning on his trip overseas, Art watched as a torpedo narrowly missed the ship he was on. Less than half the boats in his convoy made it across, and his was the only troop ship that survived. Art was stationed in England until the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy. Art was then sent to France with his toolbox and a two-man staff. He went from one field to the next repairing planes that had been shot down.

Upon returning from the war in 1945, Art married Vera "Pat" Campbell Jolly, and they settled on the family homestead. Art returned to farming and took over his dad's land when his father retired, eventually buying the farm buildings and land from his father and his brother, Alfred.

In 1976, Art and Pat incorporated farms with their daughter, Marlene, and son-in-law, Charles Melby. Art and Pat continued to farm until they moved into the care center in June 2008. Even then, he always wanted a full report on the farm.

In September, Art helped his wife, Pat, celebrate her 100th birthday with their family. He bought her two dozen pink roses. Even as he grew weaker the last few years, he remained her pillar of strength.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Alfred, Leon, Morris, Marvin and Vernon Berg; sisters, Alice Mathews, Selma Berg, Helen Belland and Lillian Dove; sons-in-law Charles Melby and Gene Montgomery; and a great-grandson, Joshua Rambo.

He is survived by his wife; daughters, Sarah Montgomery of Williamsport, Pa., Marlene Melby of Kremlin and Shirley Wattie of Warburg, Alberta; a sister, Margaret Throckmorton of Great Falls; sisters-in-law, Delores Berg of Kremlin and Margaret Berg of Bozeman; 13 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and 11 great-great-grandchildren.