Earl Benjamin Arfsten was born on November 3, 1926 in Melvin, Iowa to the late Benjamin and Emma (Reinke) Arfsten. The family moved to a farm outside of Windom before purchasing a farm near Westbrook in 1939. Earl attended country school and later was a student at Westbrook High School. Earl was a true Arfsten; hard working and adventurous. On November 27, 1947, Earl was united in marriage to Darlene Lohre at the Old Westbrook Lutheran Church in rural Westbrook. They were blessed with three children, Shari, Cindy and Tim. In their early years of marriage Earl worked in a variety of jobs in several cities. He returned home to farm his father's farm before working for Bob Gebhard as an International Harvester salesman. He moved on and bought out the Storden Livestock business. He eventually sold his business and became the manager of Farmers Grain Sales and Service in Storden. His final business venture occurred in 1985 when he became a co-owner of Slayton International, a farm equipment dealership. He sold out and retired in 1995. After retiring, he enjoyed doing seasonal work for Meadowland for several years. Earl was a member of Storden Baptist Church and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior later in life under Pastor Fred McCormick. He had many enjoyments in life which included vacationing with the family and traveling with Darlene in their camper. Later in life they enjoyed spending their winters in Arizona. He and Darlene were also able to travel abroad on numerous occasions. Earl especially loved spending time with his children and grandchildren. For the past six weeks, Earl was in hospice care at the Murray County Hospice House in Slayton where he passed away on August 29, 2019, at the age of 92 years. Those left to cherish his memory are his wife of seventy-one years, Darlene Arfsten of Storden; three children, Shari Hunter of Cottonwood; Cindy (Gary) Schimbeno of Storden; Tim (Sara) Arfsten of Storden; grandchildren, Kim (Erica) Hunter, Kyle (Jodi) Hunter, Janelle (Todd) Engstrom, Nichole (Tim) LeMoine, Chris (Jeni) Hunter, India (Jeff) Schmidt, Caleb (Allison) Arfsten, Amanda (Chase) Ballard, Chloe (Peter) Bergk, 22 great-grandchildren; brother, Gordon (Jean) Arfsten of Oklahoma City, OK; and several nieces and nephews. Earl is preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Dale Arfsten, Delbert Arfsten, infant brother, Glenn Arfsten and grandson, John Duft-Nichole LeMoine's late husband. Blessed be the memory of Earl Benjamin Arfsten.