- Arnold Bakken
A Memorial Service for Arnold Bakken will be held at 10:00 A.M. on June 13, 2009 at St.
John’s Lutheran Church near Westby, Montana. Pastor Barb Westhoff will officiate and a
burial will take place at the church cemetery, immediately following the service. Arnold, 88,
died peacefully in his elder daughter’s Blacksburg, Virginia home on February 21, 2009
from pancreatic cancer.
Arnold was born on February 19, 1921 on the Bakken family farm 13 miles east of
Plentywood, Montana to Andreas (Andrew) and Bothilde (Tilda) Bakken, originally of Sogn,
Norway. He was the third of three children, all of whom received a college education. As a
youngster, Arnold was a natural student and loved to read. He attended Comertown High
School graduating in 1938. In 1939 he attended the two-year program at Northern Montana
College in Havre and later transferred to the University of Montana in Missoula to complete
his Bachelor’s Degree. It was there that he met his future wife of almost 60 years,
Charlotte Marie Toelle.
After graduating in 1943, he attended the Naval Reserve Midshipman’s School at
Northwestern University in Chicago and began his “two-and-a-half-year, all-expenses-paid
tour of Europe.” On June 6th, 1944, Arnold was second-in-command of a landing craft in
wave 1A of the invasion of Normandy at Utah Beach.
correspondence with his former lab partner, Charlotte Toelle. When he returned to Montana, he farmed for two years while making
periodic trips across Montana to visit Charlotte in Missoula. He proposed to her on Valentine’s Day and the couple married on June
1st, 1947.
After the war, Arnold received the GI Bill, which supported his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. He earned
both his master’s and PhD degrees in zoology. As Arnold was completing his doctorate, he applied for and received a Fulbright
Fellowship to study lemming behavior in Norway for the 1951-52 academic year. Upon the couple’s return to the US, Arnold accepted a
one-year appointment at Reed College, Oregon. The following year, he accepted a permanent position at what would become the
University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire. Over the next 30 years, he contributed to building one of the strongest programs in undergraduate
biology in the Wisconsin system. He was most proud of his role in shaping the pre-medical student-advising program winning the
respect of colleagues in the state’s two medical colleges.
Arnold was devoted to both his immediate and extended family. He and Charlotte raised two daughters, Barbara and Deborah, and
ensured that their children knew their relatives well. When Arnold was not teaching, the family spent summers in Montana and
California where Arnold helped both his parents and in-laws manage farm and rental properties, respectively. As a do-it-yourselfer and
avid gardener, he was always busy but was quick to lend a helping hand to those who needed it.
In 1983, Arnold and Charlotte retired and returned to their western roots settling in Charlotte’s hometown of Missoula, MT. They
remained active and enjoyed very good health into their 80s. They gardened extensively, remodeled their home several times, traveled
domestically and internationally, participated in several service organizations, and developed an extensive network of new friends while
remaining connected to those in Wisconsin. In 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion, Arnold and his family returned to
the Normandy Beaches where he was chosen to lay the Memorial Day wreath on the Tomb of an Unknown Soldier at The American
Military Cemetery. After a brief battle with cancer and only months before their 60th wedding anniversary, Charlotte died in December of
2006. Arnold was determined to make the best of this devastating event by remaining active and independent. In mid-January 2009
while visiting his eldest daughter Barbara in Virginia, he was diagnosed with metastasized pancreatic cancer.
A keen observer of the natural world, Arnold taught us how to see it from many and varied perspectives. We remember him for his
kindness and humility, generosity of spirit, keen sense of service to others, ethical conduct, and his deep and abiding love for his
family. To the end, he maintained a sense of humor, was mindful for the well-being of those around him, and repeatedly emphasized
how thankful he was for all of life’s blessings. He is dearly loved and deeply missed.
Arnold is survived by his sister Marie Bakken; his daughter Deborah Bekken and husband Richard Kron; his daughter Barbara Bekken
and husband Michael F. Hochella, Jr., and their children Michael Andrew Hochella Bekken and Katherine Marie Bekken Hochella.
Fulkerson Funeral Home of Plentywood is in charge of local services.
| . . . . in Memory of . . . . |
| 1921 - 2008 |
Remembering Arnold