Elwin Easton

Elwin George Easton, age 91 of Willmar, died Tuesday evening, April 7, at Rice Memorial Hospital.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 12, at Bethel Lutheran Church in Willmar. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at Bethel. Interment will take place at Bethel Cemetery following the ceremony with military honors provided by the Willmar American Legion Post. Memorials are preferred to Rice Hospice, Bethel Lutheran Church or Many Point Scout Reservation.

Elwin was born in Tioga, North Dakota on April 14, 1923 to Harrison F. Easton and Mayme C. Easton. His childhood was spent in Crosby, North Dakota where his father owned Easton Drug Store. Elwin attended school in Crosby and graduated from high school in 1942. After starting at Minot State College in the fall he was called to duty in the spring of 1943 with basic training at Fort Hood in Texas. He was married on March 24, 1945 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma to Arlene Lucille Ellison and deployed 6 days later by the US Army to serve in Germany.

After his discharge in 1946, Elwin returned to Minot State and graduated with a degree in Education. He began a career as a District Executive for the Boy Scouts of America in 1949 serving the Great Plains Council. However, he was recalled by the reserves for military service in 1950 and 1951 in the Korean War. In 1954 he moved with his wife and 3 children to Willmar where he was employed by the Viking Council. In 1961 the family moved to Wayzata.. There he served as a district executive and director of camping, serving as the director of Many Point Scout Reservation in Detroit Lakes. He finished his scouting career in Yankton, S.D. where he directed Lewis & Clark Scout Camp. The principles of scouting and the outdoors were a passion for Elwin throughout his life.

In 1979 Elwin retired from scouting and moved back to Kandiyohi County where he and Arlene operated Sunset Resort on Norway Lake. They moved to Willmar in 1990 and enjoyed friends, Bethel, travel, and family. Elwin was involved in the Lions Club Organization and was a Scottish Rite Mason. In recent years they lived at Independence Place in Willmar.

Elwin is survived by Arlene, his wife of 70 years; daughter, Beverly (Richard) Labraaten of Bemidji; son, Harold (Rhonda) Easton of Grand Junction, Colorado, daughter, Pauline (Donald) Spilseth of Spicer; seven grandchildren: Patti Skelly, Kenlyn Newman, Justin Kolenc, Julie Labraaten, Jon Labraaten, Ben Spilseth, and Karl Spilseth; and seventeen great-grandchildren, besides other relatives and friends.

Elwin was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Ralph Easton.