Benjamin Pfliger

Benjamin Pfliger

STANTON - Benjamin C. Pfliger, 72, rural Stanton, died April 25, 2007, at his home, following a courageous battle with cancer. Services will be held at 10 a.m. MDT, Tuesday, May 1, at St. Martin Catholic Church, Hazen, with the Rev. Johnson Kuriappilly officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. MDT Monday at Seibel Funeral Home, Hazen.

Benjamin Pfliger was born on a bright, sunny day in Stanton, to Joseph and Caroline (Stein) Pfliger, Oct. 2, 1934. He was raised on a farm southwest of Hazen. His education started in farm school and he graduated from Stanton in 1954. He enlisted in the Air Force and was trained in cryptology. He was the first relay person to intercept radio traffic from the first sputnik spacecraft Russia launched in 1957. He was stationed in Alaska and was discharged from Parks Air Force Base in California.

Upon returning from the service, he farmed with his father on the home farm for a year. On Thanksgiving 1958, he met the love of his life, Annabelle VanDerVoort. They were married Feb. 7, 1959. Ben started line work in spring 1960. They were blessed with a son, Jorden, in 1960. 1962 brought many changes for the Pfligers. A flood took their home in August and two weeks later a bundle of joy named Carla was born.

Ben quit line work and went to work in Everett, Wash. After a short time he went back to line work in Velva. He joined the IBEW in 1965. He built transmission lines across the state for several years. He worked on the missile silos near Minot and Grand Forks. In 1970, Ben worked on the switch yards at Coal Creek. After he finished the substations for the Killdeer oil fields, he went to work at the Antelope Power House, near Beulah. He introduced his son to electric work in 1979, at Antelope. He took his inside wireman's test in 1984. He continued to work in the local power houses. After returning from a stint in the power house in Oak Creek, Wis., in 1989, he returned home to finish the Coyote plant in Beulah. Then he started to farm full time. In spring 1998, he went to Milwaukee to finish out his career as an electrician with his son. He then rented out his farm land and retired to peruse his favorite pastimes, golf and fishing.

Ben worked 40 years for the IBEW, was an active member of the Eagles, AMVETS and American Legion. He was a past president of St. Martin Catholic Church Council and a member of the IBEW Examining Board.

He is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, Jorden and Lorna Pfliger, Menomonee Falls, Wis.; one daughter and son-in-law, Carla and Curtiss Eng, Stanton; his grandchildren, Jesse, Hailee and Emilee Pfliger and Shilo and Shannon Kilber; his step-grandchildren, Christopher Eng and Mindy Brobst; one great-granddaughter, Kira Annabelle Pfliger; his step-great-grandchildren, Maggie, Lilly and Adlyn Eng, Whitney and Jorden Irmen and Blakley and Hanna Brobst; his special friend, Mary Leingang, Bismarck, and her children, Jonathan Aman and Julie and Brian Schafer; their children, Caitlin and Carter Schafer and Lindsey and Lauren Aman; and his siblings, Leora Retterath, Stanton, Cecilia Hauck, Willmar, Minn., Dorothy Lang, Wendal, Idaho, Theresa Kowalski, Fargo, Joseph Pfliger, Sioux Falls, S.D., and Jim Pfliger, Mesquite, Nev.

He was preceded in death by parents; his wife, Annabelle; and his brothers, Martin and Clem Pfliger.