On Monday, July 26, 2021, Earl Raymond Bird passed away at the age of 86. He was born March 20, 1935, to Theodore and Pearl Bird.
Funeral Services will be held at 11:30 a.m., Monday, August 2, 2021 at Parkway Funeral Services, 2330 Tyler Parkway, Bismarck. Burial will be at 1:00 p.m., Monday, at The North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan. Visitation one hour prior to service.
At the age of 18 Ray joined the Marines and served as a radio lineman in communications.
On April 12, 1961 he married the love of his life, Norma Strobel, at the American Lutheran Church. Over the next several years Ray worked in power line construction with Larsen’s Construction which required they travel around the country to different locations. They finally settled down in Canon City, Colorado, where they raised their three children: Michelle, Douglas and Wade. After many years they moved back to Bismarck where Ray worked for Monarch Products until he retired. In September of 2014 they moved to Fairview, Montana to live with their daughter Michelle.
Ray had a passion for creating things from scrap. His last large project was a tree house he built for his grandsons. If there was a need for something he figured out how to build it.
Ray was a wonderful father and grandfather; he will be dearly missed.
He is survived by his three children, Michelle Wheeler, Fairview MT, Doug Bird, Sugar City, Colorado and Wade (Theresa) Bird, Las Vegas, Nevada; his brother, Robert (Nancy) Bird, Bismarck; his grandchildren, Amy (Dean) Verhasselt, Allen Stitt, Cameron Wheeler, Taylor Bird, Wade E. Bird, Brian Henry and numerous great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Theodore and Pearl Bird, his wife, Norma; brother, Dale Bird and sister, Alice Schaeffer and grandson Andrew Stitt.
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