Durell Derstine

Durell Groff Derstine, age 91, Detroit Lakes, MN, went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at Essentia Health in Fargo, ND.

Funeral services will be 11:00 AM Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at the Strawberry Lake Mennonite Church in rural Ogema, MN, Delmar Yoder, officiating.  Interment will be in the church cemetery.

Friends may call at the church 10:00 – 11:00 AM on Tuesday.

Durell Groff Derstine was born July 11, 1926 in Hatfield, PA to Willis and Naomi (Groff) Derstine.  He grew up with his two brothers, Gerald and Willis Jr.  Durell was united in marriage to Thelma Mae Moyer in Hatfield, PA on March 23, 1946.   God blessed them with two sons, Ronald and Dennis.  They moved to Minnesota as missionaries to the White Earth Indian Reservation in 1953.  They were blessed with three more children, Charlotte, Cheryl Diane (who passed away as an infant) and David.  They lived on the reservation for 17 years in the Strawberry Lake area.

Durell was an auto body man and loved to rebuild and paint cars.  He also farmed on the side.  In 1970, they moved to rural Detroit Lakes.  He loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, cutting wood and, in his later years, carving fish decoys as a hobby.  He served as an Elder, song leader and Sunday School teacher at the Christian Fellowship in Detroit Lakes and was a member of the Gideons.  He loved the Lord with all his heart.  He also enjoyed going to auctions, classic car shows, flee markets and the thrashers reunion at Rollag.

He loved his family, especially those grandkids!  He loved family gatherings and home cooked food, especially Dennis’ fish fries and Ron’s delicious deserts. He loved to reminisce about old times and relatives.

He will be missed by his wife, Thelma, his children, Ronald, Dennis, Charlotte and David; his grand, great grand and great, great grandchildren, all from the Detroit Lakes area, and his two brothers, Gerald and Willis Jr.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Willis and Naomi Derstine and a daughter, Cheryl.  David-Donehower Funeral Home is serving the family.