Graveside Services for Delbert will be on Monday, May 4, 2020 at the Marmarth Riverside Cemetery in Marmarth at 10:00 a.m.

Delbert Harold Kruger passed away peacefully after a short battle with cancer on April 28, 2020, at the Eastern Montana Veterans Home in Glendive.

He was born August 29, 1931, to Harold and Louise (Funk) Kruger on the family homestead near Taylor, North Dakota. The second of fourteen children and the oldest of nine sons, Delbert relocated with his parents and siblings to Slope County in 1933, and spent the balance of his formative years in and around the town of Marmarth.

Even in childhood, Delbert exhibited a gifted analytical mind, and increasingly accompanied his father in building and maintaining Slope County roads during his summers and breaks from school. He began operating a road grader at the age of 14, eventually dropping out of high school to pursue it as a full-time endeavor. Five years later, he was drafted in support of the Korean War, the first of eight Kruger brothers to serve in the U. S. military, and notably received personal praise from General William Westmoreland during an Army inspection. After completing his drafted service in 1953, Delbert returned to Marmarth before voluntarily re-enlisting for a second Army tour, again specializing in heavy equipment with the Corps of Engineers. Following his second honorable discharge, he would spend the next fifty years of his life running heavy equipment for numerous dirt and oilfield contractors, mining companies, and municipalities in western North Dakota, the Black Hills, and eastern Montana.

Delbert especially loved road graders, and hoped to continue running them until his 80 ^th birthday. In fact, just ten days after having open-heart surgery in 2001, he defied a cardiologist's order by returning to the cab of his grader, using a pillow as a buffer between the hard steering wheel and the stitches still up and down his chest. And for the remainder of the same decade, after most of his peers had long retired, he continued operating that same road grader full-time for Slope County, making significant improvements to old Highway 16 north of Marmarth.

Health concerns would eventually force Delbert's permanent retirement at the age of 79, bringing an end to a heavy equipment career that spanned 65 years and moved the ground of both Dakotas, Montana, Arizona, Kentucky, Tennessee, and even France. He always spoke modestly about his abilities and accomplishments, yet a prominent dirt contractor in Des Moines, Iowa, frequently mentioned Delbert as an influential mentor for his own success in heavy construction. And county commissioners and transportation engineers alike respected how Delbert could deliver nearly perfect elevations and slopes on site pads or across several miles of rugged terrain, often without a single grade stake to guide him. Even today, numerous rural roads and oilfield sites in North Dakota and Montana anonymously carry Delbert's legacy.

Delbert was much beloved by family and friends throughout his life, affectionately known as "Uncle Bert" to his many nieces and nephews, and fondly remembered for his witty sense of humor, delicious fried pork chops, and the subtle fragrance of diesel exhaust perpetually on his clothing and skin. He was always good for a story or two, and given his analytical mind, a worthy competitor in any card game. Delbert took particular pleasure in reminiscing about people, old highways and railroads, and the local history of the region in which he spent nearly all of his life. And despite being a speed reader, he would carefully study his Bible every night before going to bed, to share his ongoing faith in God whenever he felt called to do so. Over the course of his life, he read through the entire Bible no fewer than three times.

In 2018, Delbert voluntarily moved into the Eastern Montana Veterans Home, essentially for end of life care at the age of 86. Although his body continued to physically deteriorate, visitors were often surprised at the sharpness of his mind, virtually unchanged from when he was in his prime. He could no longer walk on his own due to a broken hip and had lost six inches of height from spinal compression. Yet he remained exceptionally upbeat, even after receiving a cancer diagnosis in early 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic. Declining surgery, he spent his final weeks in minimal pain, exercising every day but Sunday and looking forward to the eternal life that awaited him.

Delbert is survived by two sisters, Kathleen (Jim) Quenzer of Grand Junction, Colorado and Yvonne Svihl of New Hradec, North Dakota; and four brothers, Allen (Barb) Kruger of Gautier, Mississippi; Darwin (Pearl) Kruger of Dickinson, North Dakota; Kermit (Kassie) Kruger of Smiths Grove, Kentucky; and Ronald (Patsy) Kruger of Casper, Wyoming. Within Delbert's own family, he is survived by wife Vera Kruger of Beach, North Dakota; six children, Sandi Kruger of Colome, South Dakota; David Delbert Kruger of Laramie, Wyoming; Eric (Riza) Kruger of Beulah, North Dakota; Krista (Lance) Fogelsong of Fort Myers, Florida; Robin (Harold) Miller of Baker, Montana; and Susanna (Scott) Quigley of Oldtown, Idaho. In addition, Delbert was a loving grandfather to six granddaughters and six grandsons, along with seven great-grandchildren at the time of his death. Preceding Delbert in death were his parents Harold and Louise; sisters Colleen, Lenore, and Sharon; and brothers Bruce, Darel, Fred, and Gary.

In lieu of flowers, his family suggests a contribution in Delbert's memory to either the Baker First Baptist Church (116 Kewanee Avenue, Baker, MT 59313) or American Legion Post #188 (51 S. Main, Rhame, ND 58651).