Yatsin Berger

Yatsin David Berger, 77, of Center, passed away July 31, 2021.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 9:00 AM on Monday, August 9, 2021, at St. Martin’s Catholic Church, Center, ND with Rev. Stephen Folorunson as celebrant. Inurnment will be at St. Martin’s Catholic Cemetery.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the church on Monday.

Yatsin David Berger was born on February 9, 1944, to Yatsin and Mary Berger. He was raised and educated in Center, ND, and in 1962 graduated from Center High School. After graduating he went to work at the Sanger gravel pit, picking sand and iron rocks off the conveyer belt. In 1964, he went to work at the Basin plant in Stanton as a laborer where he drove truck for Sorenson Construction Co. Yatsin then went to work as a grease monkey for a year and then onto operating a CAT and scraper for Northern Improvement and Sorenson. On September 3, 1965, Yatsin married Donna Letzring and shortly after was drafted into the Army and deployed to Alaska. They spent many Army days (laughingly called their year and a half honeymoon) with their life-long friends from Ohio. Yatsin and Donna then moved to northern Minnesota where they spent four months clearing trees for Northern Construction Co.

In 1967, Yatsin returned to construction work until 1968 when he went to work for BNI Coal building a haul road. In 1969, he was hired permanently to help build a shop and dragline. He then went on to oiling on the dragline for nine months before becoming an operator which he continued to do until his retirement in 2006. Yatsin loved planting trees in Oliver County with a group people who have been together for 13 years.

Yatsin will be deeply missed by his wife, Donna of Center; sons, Dean (Patty) of Mandan and Dale (Megan) of Southern California; and granddaughters, Olivia and Samantha.

A special thank you to JD & Maria.