David A. Simpkins

David A. Simpkins, age 70 of Folden Township, Minnesota died unexpectedly at his home Friday, February 23, 2018. A visitation with reviewal will be held from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, March 1st at First Lutheran Church Sanctuary in Sauk Centre. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 2nd at First Lutheran Church in Sauk Centre with a gathering of family and friends beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the church. Inurnment of his cremated remains will be held at 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon in Folden Lutheran Church Cemetery. David Allen Simpkins— Dave, 70, left behind a lot of family, friends, and unfinished projects when he died suddenly on February 23. Born to June (Olson) Simpkins in Watertown, S.D., on September 9, 1947, Dave grew up in Minneapolis and died in Vining, Minn., on the farm where he spent his summers as a child with his beloved grandparents, Clarence and Hilda Olson, and later built his dream home. He graduated from Wayzata High School in 1965, from Dunwoody in 1967, and joined the Army, where he took advantage of every opportunity to advance in rank, education, and leadership skills. The GI Bill took him through journalism school at the University of Minnesota. He took up photography in the Army and never stopped studying and practicing the art, incorporating it into a successful career as a newspaper publisher. Dave invested his time, money and ingenuity in every town he adopted. In Elbow Lake, he founded the Sodbuster newspaper and later published the Grant County Herald, making it the first weekly newspaper west of the Mississippi to use computers and desktop publishing. Ever an enthusiastic Norwegian, he sparked the birth of the annual Flekkefest there. In Sauk Centre he published the Sauk Centre Herald and later developed a partnership with his employees, going on to establish Star Publications, which publishes the Dairy Star, Sauk Centre Herald, Melrose Beacon, Albany Enterprise, Sauk Rapids Herald, Benton County News, and Country Acres. He also transformed Minnesota Bike Trails into the Minnesota Trails Magazine and served as president of the Lake Wobegon Trails Association. In Sauk Centre, Dave was most proud of helping to establish a community foundation and to save the Carnegie library, and of bringing internet access to town. Over the years, Dave became an expert on Sauk Centre native son Sinclair Lewis. He spoke honoring the author in NYC, SC, and on television, and was completing a book based on the author's childhood diaries. Dave is survived by his wife, Linda; sons Eric (Allison) Sharkey Simpkins of Minneapolis, and Michael Simpkins (Megan Feuerherd) of Gladstone, OR; granddaughters, Marie and Lucia, "the Grand Adorables"; sisters, Connie Simpkins and Robin Alaryan of Plymouth, MN; brother-in-law, Kent Fletcher of Lafayette, IN; and many cousins he considered close family. He was preceded in death by his mother, June (Olson) Simpkins; ex-wife, Roberta (Wilson) Simpkins; brother, James Simpkins; and sister, Bonnie Koursh. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Sauk Centre Community Foundation. Online memorials can be made via www.communitygiving.org/donate and list SCACF Dave Simpkins in the memo. Mailing address: SCACF, 1601 Hwy 12 East, Suite 9, Willmar MN 56201.