Harold Orton

Harold L. Orton, age 91 of Brooten, Minnesota was called home to be with his Lord and Savior on Monday, March 11, 2024. 

A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, March 22 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooten with Pastor Dave Skordahl officiating. Interment will be at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Brooten with military honors by the Brooten American Legion Post 288.

The visitation will be from 1 to 1:45 p.m. Friday at the church. 

Harold LeRoy Orton was born near Brooten, MN on December 3, 1932, to Roy and Erna Orton. Harold attended country schools near Brooten until 8th grade completing two grade levels in one year. As a young boy and during his teen years, he would walk to Brooten to deliver the Grit Newspaper, sell seeds door to door, manually reset the pins at the bowling alley, and carried pop cases upstairs from basement storage at local cafes. Once he had his driver’s license, he had a school bus route and drove high school athletes, his age, to away games.

At Trinity, on November 27, 1955, Harold was united in marriage to the love of his life, Delores Quisberg. They welcomed their three blessings from God…Connie Diane in 1959, Timothy LeRoy in 1961, and Beth Delores in 1964...to the home they built the year they were married. Harold adored his children and never missed any of their activities. 

Harold’s military career in the US Army brought him to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and Fort Polk, Louisiana. He was honorably discharged in 1958.

Harold worked for NSP (Xcel) and in 1958 he and his dad purchased the Mobil gas station. Together they had a full-service repair shop with 24/7 towing service. They repaired car, truck, and tractor tires while mounting thousands of irrigation tires. In 1990, Harold added a convenience store to his business. At that point, Harold’s son, Tim, joined the family business until it was sold in 2002. Harold then spent time shooting pool with friends on Tuesday mornings, enjoyed following a variety of sports, and golfing with his family.

Involvement in local organizations included: 40 years on the Brooten Fire Department, the American Legion Post 288, the Brooten Chamber of Commerce, and the Prairie View Community Golf Course. He served on the Brooten City Council and participated in slow and fast pitch softball leagues. Harold was a member of the MN Petroleum Association and the Classic Chevy Club. Harold and Delores were chosen to be the 2008 Bonanza Valley Days Grand Marshalls. Harold attended Trinity Bible studies, was a church council member, an usher, and even taught one year of 8th grade Sunday School.

On the evening of March 11, 2024, in the home he had built for his family, Harold peacefully entered his eternal home surrounded by Delores, Connie and Tim.

Harold is survived by his wife, Delores of 68 years, his daughter, Connie, his son, Tim, his daughter, Beth (Jon Hanson) and two grandchildren, Matthew Hanson and Marissa Hanson, one sister, Elva (Orton) Laage, sister-in-law, Marian (Quisberg) Johnson (Keith), 5 nephews and 2 nieces.  

He was preceded in death by his parents, Roy (1979) and Erna (1989), his mother-in-law, Gladys Quisberg (1955), father-in-law, Lloyd Quisberg (2001), brothers-in-law, Richard Laage (2020), Paul Quisberg (2015), and Paul’s wife, Delphene (Westrud) Quisberg (1999).

Harold is dearly missed but his family rejoices in knowing that he loved the Lord and lives forever in his eternal mansion. 

Blessed be the memory of Harold LeRoy Orton.