David (Pat) C. McFarland

David Cullen McFarland Jr. was born on October 11, 1918, in Marshall, to David C. McFarland Sr. and Martha (Ladwig) McFarland. He attended country school district 98 and graduated from Marshall High School in 1933 at the age of 15. He subsequently worked on the family farm and from 1942 – 1947 he served in the U.S. Army Air Corp. After his service, he attended the University of Minnesota and graduated with a business degree. Pat served from 1947 – 1958 in the Air Force Reserve and retired as a Lt. Colonel. On December 20, 1949, he was united in marriage to Dorothy Vitcak. He was employed by Travelers Insurance Company and in 1954, returned to Marshall and started the McFarland Company. In 2004, he celebrated 50 years of business in Marshall. Pat was a member of St. James Episcopal Church, the Masons, the Shriners, American Legion Post 113 of Marshall, the VFW, the Marshall Chamber of Commerce, and in 2003 was the recipient of an Honorary Lifetime Membership award from the SMSU Alumni Association. Pat died of congestive heart failure on Wednesday, March 31, 2010, at the Morningside Heights Care Center in Marshall. He is survived by his sisters Ruth Byers Carlstrom of Urbandale, IA, and Kathleen Brown of Chaska and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, David and Martha, his wife Dorothy, a sister Shirley Rostomily and an infant brother, James. Memorials preferred to Prairie Home Hospice of Marshall.