William Lange

William "Billy" Lange, 79, of Jamestown and formerly of Eldridge, died Sunday at Eventide at Hi-Acres in Jamestown.

William Arthur Lange was born May 30, 1932 in Jamestown to William C. and Ella (Preuss) Lange. He was baptized at the Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Eldridge. The church is now located at the Frontier Village. He was confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church in 1946.

Billy grew up on the family farm in Eldridge Township, where he cultivated his love for farming.

He attended a one-room school for eight years in rural Eldridge and attended Eldridge High School for two years. In 1950 he graduated from Jamestown High School, where he was active in FFA.

He married Marjorie Scott on Sept. 2, 1951. They farmed west of Eldridge where they raised crops and livestock. He loved every aspect of farming, from planting, cultivating and harvesting and making hay and raising pigs and beef cattle. Picking rock was a daily pilgrimage in the spring and resulted in several incredibly large rock monuments. He liked to ride tall in the saddle when bringing in cattle from the pasture while singing, "I'm back in the saddle again." Although frequent mechanical break-downs would cause him to sputter, "fish hooks!" he never stopped believing that farming was the best job in the world and that "this year we're going to make it big."

He loved history and he loved to tell stories, like tall tales about his imaginary adventures on the cowboy trail including the time he pushed 37-hundred head of long-horned steers up through the Bozeman Trail back in 1869.

Billy was never without a plier in his pocket. Marge would make him leave it under a folding chair before she'd dance with him at wedding dances.

He was active as a 4-H leader, served on the church council at St. John's and was a member of the Eldridge Cemetery Board. He was involved with the immigrant resettlement program and befriended many new residents from Armenia and Vietnam. He moved to High Acres on April 15, 1998. He died just shy of his 80th birthday.

He is survived by his wife, Marge, who still lives on the farm; children Dennis (Abigail Ring) Lange of Audubon, Minn., Darwin (Heidi Heitkamp) Lange of Mandan and Carolyn (Phillip) Hatlestad of New London, Minn.; grandchildren: Alethea and Nathan Lange, Kaitlin and Devin Lange, and Erik, Adam and Andrew Hatlestad. He is also survived by his brother Kenneth Lange of Jamestown.

He was preceded in death by his parents, sister, Ruth Cumber and brother-in-law Lyle Cumber.