After a long and fulfilling life of 87 years, Earl Christianson, Battle Lake Minn., died on Tuesday, Aug. 8. Earl was born Oct. 2, 1929 on a farm near Tintah, Minn. He grew up in Wendell, Minn., and graduated from Elbow Lake High School in 1947.

Upon graduation from the Minnesota School of Business he married Jeanne Jaunty and settled in Elbow Lake, Minn., where he started his career in his father's farm equipment business. Christianson was a pioneer in introducing the 4WD tractor to agriculture working closely with Douglass and Maurice Steiger to develop and market the Steiger tractor. He promoted and sold the first of them in the early 1960s. As the original Steiger dealership, Christianson's Inc. went on to sell and service 4WDs in the southern Red River Valley area. Christianson remained excited about new concepts in agricultural equipment, be it sprayers, tillage, tracks, or other innovations. He retired in 1991 and spent summers at the family lake cabin on West Battle Lake, later relocating to the area year around.

His son Peter Christianson went on to be the co-founder and later president of Titan Machinery.

The full obituary is available to read here.