Verlin Duhr

Verlin "Dobby" Arthur Duhr was born February 18, 1920, on the family farm in Richland Center, Wisconsin to parents Alice and Herman Duhr, the fifth child of thirteen children-ten boys and three girls. He was baptized May 30, 1920 in the St. Paul Lutheran Church and confirmed June 9, 1935, at St. John's in Richland Center.



Circumstances were hard, so his parents told him that he could attend high school but would have to make his own arrangements. He did and graduated from Richland Center High School in 1937. Hearing that there were jobs available farther west, he traveled to Minnesota, eventually taking a job in Clinton with a local farmer, Karl Kristiansen and his wife Nickoline. Here he al met their beautiful daughter, Edell Helena, and they married on January 31, 1939. They had six children, and were married an astounding sixty-seven years.



He had played high school football and was a Golden Gloves boxer, but his real passion was baseball. He had briefly played semi-professional ball, and was recruited and paid by the Chokio team, and then became one of the founding fathers of baseball in Clinton, and continued to play or manage for 35 years. His nickname was given to him by his fans for his many homeruns followed by his running of the bases like a Dobbins, a slow draft horse.



He said the most interesting thing he did was to have worked in Greenland helping build Thule Air Force Base.



"Dobby" passed away Saturday, July 08, 2006 at the Grace Home in Graceville, MN. Preceding him in death were his parents, mother and father-in-law, son Steve, and four brothers. He is survived by his wife Edell; children Janet (Don) Grebin, Karl, Karen (Grant) Hagen, Brad (Pat), Nikki (Tim) Rabe; twelve grandchildren, nineteen great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, five brothers, three sisters, and many nieces and nephews.



The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Parkinson's Foundation.