George Fairley Minehart

George Fairley Minehart was born on February 2, 1933, in Avoca, MN, to his parents Russell G and Winifred Effie Minehart (nee’ Fairley). He graduated from Slayton High School in 1952. He married Bette Jean Thompson in 1954. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1958. After graduation, the Mineharts moved to Marshall, where George took a position with Gold and Carlson CPAs. He earned his certificate on the first try and served as a Certified Public Accountant to farmers and businesses in the Marshall area for many years. George retired from Minehart, McKee, Anderson, and Associates. In retirement, he particularly enjoyed biking around the Marshall area and watching the sports exploits of his grandchildren. George served as President of First Lutheran Church and on the Church's Congregation Board, the SSU Foundation Planned Giving Steering Committee, and the Marshall Area Senior Center Foundation Board. He was a United States Army veteran. George is survived by his wife Bette Jean; his brother Rev. R. Gordon Minehart and sister-in-law Sara Jane (nee’ Brown) of Woodbury, his sister-in-law Phyllis Minehart (nee’ Foster) of Minneapolis, sons Thomas George Minehart (Anita) of Montgomery, Alabama, and Michael Gordon Minehart of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; daughters Linda Kay Fox (Larry) of Minneota, and Melissa Jean Mahlen (Steven) of Hampden, Maine; grandchildren Elizabeth Jean Minehart, Heather Lin Anderson, Brock Joel Fox, and Jacob Steven Mahlen; and great-grandchildren Jaelin Elsie, Dax Nils, and Rex Fairley Anderson. (George was especially proud that his latest great-grand child carried on the Fairley name.) George was preceded in death by his brother Rev. James Alvin Minehart, and his sisters Helen Mae Olson and Janette Faye Minehart Yaeger, and his sister-in-law Audrey Clare Thompson St. Andrew (Oliver Walter). In lieu of flowers, donations preferred to Dougherty Hospice House of Sioux Falls, SD. “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the musiche hears, however measured and far away.“ Henry David Thoreau, Walden