Kenny Farden

Kenny Farden, age 86 of

Maxbass, passed away on

Monday, March 7, 2022 at

a Mohall nursing home.

His funeral will be held

on Saturday, March 12,

2022 at 2:00 pm at the En-

glish Lutheran Church in

Maxbass. Visitation will

be Friday from 4:00 pm

until 6:00 pm at the

Church. Burial will be at

the Graceland Cemetery

near Maxbass.

Kenny Farden was born

July 17, 1935 in Bot-

tineau, ND to Alvin (Ole)

and Helen (Haakenson)

Farden. He was one of six

children, raised in Max-

bass and graduated from

Maxbass High School on

May 28, 1953. Kenny

served in the United

States Army from January

27, 1958 to January 26,

1961. He married Lila Ber-

nice Hulse on October 15,

1964 in Westhope, North

Dakota. From this union,

two sons, Todd and

Steven, were born. Kenny

and Bernice lived in Max-

bass.

Kenny spent the first

part of his career working

with his father and broth-

ers in the house moving

business. From there he

began a concrete business,

forming and pouring con-

crete at numerous farms

in the surrounding coun-

ties. Out of that, he start-

ed delivering cement to

the drilling rigs in the

area. The cement came in

94-pound bags and ar-

rived in box cars on the

train. He would load and

unload each of the bags,

by hand, three times be-

fore he sold them. A game

changer came in 1972

when he erected his ce-

ment silo that still stands

in the Maxbass yard.

Kenny’s boys rode with

Dad when he delivered

cement to the Haliburton

rig. He was so proud to

have the work and would

tell them how much

easier it was to do now

with the cement silo, as

he no longer had to han-

dle cement bags. Kenny

instilled a work ethic in

his boys from a very

young age and even

bought them an old crush-

er to use to produce gravel

for the rigs, townships

and counties. He and the

boys then began purchas-

ing heavy equipment and

got into the earthwork ser-

vice industry.

Kenny loved the fall of

the year, burying trees

and rock piles and in the

spring, pulling out stuck

pieces of equipment. Dur-

ing the last 15 years, we

got back into the moving

business, but this time it

was oil drilling rigs. We

once asked Dad why he

like moving rigs and he

said, “I enjoy doing things

no one else does.” At the

time of his retirement,

Kenny amassed over 100

pieces of heavy equip-

ment, five crushing

plants, over 70 trucks and

employed 130 plus peo-

ple. He also had the

privilege of working with

and for hundreds of other

individuals and loved to

tell his stories to anyone

who would listen.

After Bernice passed

away, Kenny started the

next phase of his life by

purchasing a Harley Da-

vidson motorcycle. He

tried to never miss a

Wednesday night ride

with his friends in the

Minot HOG club. Kenny

would load up the Harley

in the winter and head

south, pulling into the

first Caterpillar dealer

without snow and leaving

the car and trailer and

jumping on his bike to go

ride for a few months.

We never knew it, but

Kenny had a passion for

horses. He shared with us

that he once bought a

horse from a neighbor and

tied it up at the well south

of the house and once

Bernice found out, it was

quickly returned. (We

then got a Honda

3-wheeler) Therefore,

once his youngest grand-

daughter, Samantha, ex-

pressed an interest in rid-

ing and having a horse, he

spent countless hours tak-

ing her to ride at

Langseth’s, going to barrel

races and taking care of

the horses in Maxbass.

Kenny also shared his

love of music by purchas-

ing his oldest grand-

daughter, Lila, three gui-

tars. He loved to sit and

listen to her sing and play

while he’d make special

requests to which she

would perform. One of his

favorites was Folsom Pris-

on by Johnny Cash. Each

time after she’d sing, he’d

chuckle and say he just

didn’t know how she did

it.

To many Kenny was the

Man of Steel, the man

with a funny one liner

who cared about others

and didn’t want to in-

fringe upon their time, to

us, he was our rock and

foundation that we were

blessed to call Father and

Papa.

Kenny was a member of

the English Lutheran

Church of Maxbass.

Kenny was preceded in

death by his wife, Bernice

in 1992, parents, his

brothers, Ardell Farden,

Russell Farden and

Donald Farden, his sister,

Norma Andersen,

sister-in-law Beth

Houmann, and

brothers-in-law Leroy

Houmann and Emil An-

dersen.

Kenny is survived by

his special friend Janet

Langseth, sons Todd Far-

den, Steve Farden and

wife Teralyn, his beloved

granddaughters Lila Ber-

nice and Samantha Gail

Farden, sister Carol (Fred)

Boger and sisters-in-law

Joanne Farden, Marie Far-

den, Bette Hingst and

Barb Holzer,

brother-in-law John

Hulse, and many nieces,

nephews and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the

family requests that

memorials be given to the

English Lutheran Church

or Graceland Cemetery in

Maxbass, ND

Arrangements were

with Nero Funeral Home

in Bottineau.