Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series:
Tribute
Folder:
DIG
Item:
271546
Title:
Myron H. Atkinson
Date:
9/22/1927-6/12/2017
Creator:
Inscription/Marks:
9/22/1927
Summary:
Myron H. Atkinson, Jr, Long-time Bismarck resident died June 12, 2017, at CHI St Alexius Health, Bismarck.
Mass of Christian burial was held at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit with Monsignor Thomas Richter officiating. Burial was held at St. Mary's Cemetery, Bismarck.
Visitation and a rosary/vigil service were at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Bismarck.
Myron H. Atkinson was born in Bismarck on September 22, 1927, son of Myron Sr. and Julia Atkinson. When Myron was a boy during the Great Depression, Bismarck’s Hillside Park was barren prairie. Under the guidance of his father, they set out to change that. They planted seedling trees, carrying water in coffee cans to care for them and make them grow. Those trees stand tall in the part today, a testament to how Myron lived his life.
Myron graduated from Bismarck High School, Bismarck Junior College and the University of North Dakota with degrees in Business and Law. After U.S. Army Service in 1952-54 during the Korean War he returned to Bismarck and practiced law along with his business career. He was a community builder who defined himself by caring and kindness. Everything he did was with an eye to the horizon and a better life for all.
In 1956 Myron was one of the founders of North Dakota Guaranty and Title Company where he served as President until his retirement in 1992. His business activities also included real estate development, radio and television broadcasting, and mobile home park construction and sales. He was a Director of Norwest Bank - Bismarck, for 21 years. Myron served at various times as president of the Bismarck Chamber of Commerce, United Way, St Alexius Medical Center Lay Advisory Board and many other local organizations. He was one of the organizers and later served as chair of Bismarck Development Association, part of his lifelong effort to encourage economic development in the Bismarck area.
With a special interest in education, Myron taught real estate courses at both Bismarck State College and the University of Mary in conjunction with the North Dakota Real Estate Commission, of which he was a member and president. He served several times as President of the University of Mary Board of Regents, was a founding Director and later President of the Bismarck Area Catholic Education Foundation and was President of the Bismarck State College Foundation.
Myron was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1968 and served until 1976 when he chose not to run. For six years he was Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He also held many positions in both the local and state Republican Party including serving as Chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party from 1981-1983. At the time of his death, Myron was actively involved in many projects including the Bismarck Historical Society, Atkinson Nature Park, and restoration of Camp Hancock.
In 1951, Myron Atkinson and Marjory Barth of Bismarck were married at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. He loved his wife dearly, and she trumped the family. They had seven children who are Timothy (Faye), Bismarck, Sister Kathleen, Bismarck, Thomas (Robyn), Bismarck, Patrick, Bismarck, Minneapolis, and Antigua, Guatemala, Elizabeth (Murray Wolf), Minnetonka, MN, John (Sharon), Mesa, AZ, and Paul (Lisa), Prior Lake, MN.
“We’re here to build for the future,” he had told his daughter, Sister Kathleen Atkinson, and that meant building his family as well as his community. Every year at the Tately potato farm, they would dig up 100 pounds of potatoes, loading them into the back of vehicles and delivering to other area families on a Sunday afternoon. Because of the example of their father, many of the Atkinson children moved into public life in some form or another.
Like a puzzle for him, his daughter Betsey said, her father worked hard, but he wasn’t a workaholic. He loved community projects to the point they did not seem like work to him. He gave to his children, a belief that you could do things.
One year, after Christmas, Myron, right alongside his children collected more than 80 Christmas trees from the neighbors, using them to build a log cabin in their Cathedral District backyard. With his love for community came a strong moral compass. “Dad just wouldn’t do something that was not legal or ethical or fair to anybody,” Tim Atkinson said.
This transferred into business when he developed Tatley Meadows mobile home community. He built the community out of a desire to give everyone the option of a nice safe place to live, no matter their income, with a park on every street for the kids to play baseball or fly kites. It made it possible for people to buy a home and build equity.
Former president of the Bismarck-Mandan development Association, Russ Staiger, whom Myron had met while he was serving as a state representative at the Legislature, said he respected Myron as much as anyone he got to know in Bismarck. He was a true leader. He never thought of himself, always the community. He described Myron as extremely bright with an understanding of the political process and of people. He thought Myron was extremely fair in everything he did and was comfortable that any decision Myron helped make was on the right path.
Myron loved to make people happy. He loved Krispy Kreme doughnuts, wanting to buy some for the hospital staff during his illness. Every Thursday at North Dakota Guaranty & Title Co. was doughnut day, offering an opportunity to visit people and ask about their day.
Myron and his wife led a service trip to Guatemala with another of his son’s organizations, the God’s Child Project, helping build homes in impoverished communities. During lunch breaks, he would visit the local shops, buying them out of fudgesicles to give to the kids in the community. It was the little things. Even when he was young, his son Tim was aware of the special place his father held in the community and the respect others had for him. But to his children, he was still “Dad” and they knew they were just as important to him. Myron and Tim would sit in the old wooden grandstand of the former Bismarck baseball stadium watching the game, snacking on warm salted peanuts. He made time even after a long day at work, with late night family outings, going to eat at Big Boy or the root beer stand in their pajamas. Myron would buy his wife flowers, coming back with three bundles every time he made a trip to the grocery store.
Myron was a good man, and his daughter Kathleen hopes all people can say that about their dads but they had a pretty darn special one.
Myron is survived by his wife, their seven children and spouses, 17 grandchildren, Isaac Pavlicek, Joshua Atkinson, Derek Atkinson, Scott Atkinson, Ernesto Atkinson, Andrew Wolf, Matthias Wolf, Nicholas Atkinson, Christian Atkinson, Joseph Atkinson, Michael Atkinson, Shannon Johnson, Kelli Erdmann, Sophia Wolf, Marjorie Atkinson, Julia Atkinson, Maria Atkinson, and six great-grandchildren, Jordan Pavlicek, Aidan Johnson, Barrett Erdmann, Aurora Johnson, Abigail Johnson, Jayda Pavlicek.
Myron was preceded in death by his parents; and his sister, Caroline Moyer.
Red ID: FND_I_79042 Image ID: 525000 Image Notes: FND001 271546
