Payne G. Bolken

Payne Bolken, 79, peacefully went home to our Lord and Savior, and to be with his beloved wife, Mary, on Saturday, January 20 at the Villa Maria Nursing Facility, Fargo.

Payne was born November 8, 1938 the only son of Inga (Johnson) and Oscar Bolken at the McVille Hospital. He attended grade school until 8th grade at the rural Sheyenne School House and then graduated in 1956 from Pekin High School. He farmed with his father Oscar. Payne married Mary Steffen of Edmore, ND on February 20, 1971. He moved to the Parkwood Assisted Living in Grand Forks, ND in 2009 before moving to the Nelson County Care Center in 2012. In September of 2016 he then was moved to the Villa Maria Nursing Home in Fargo to be closer to his family.

Payne and Mary were blessed with 4 children, Stephanie (Bill) Devine, Watertown, Sheila (Bryan Miller) McGee, Grand Forks, Sara (Shey) Ogundolani, Fargo, Peter (Jill) Bolken, Fargo, and son-in-law, Todd McGee, Hatton. He was grandfather to Rumley and Rainie Devine, Eleasha, Mercedes, and Sofia McGee, Jocelyn Miller, Alexus, Kyra, and Tristan Ogundolani, and Emmary Bolken.

He will be remembered for his gentle spirit, a wonderful sense of humor, and someone that loved the community he came from. To know Payne was to know someone with a humble and unassuming presence.

Payne was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Mary, her parents, Paul and Mary Steffen, sister-in-law Helen Hovland, brother-in-law Ray Kraft, and nephew Todd Kraft. 

Funeral will be Saturday, Jan. 27, at 11 a.m. at the Sheyenne Lutheran Church near Pekin ND.  Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.  Interment will be in the Spring at Sheyenne Church Cemetery. 

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