Warren Zakopyko

Balfour, passed away Fri-

day, January 4, 2019 at

Trinity Hospital in Minot.

Warren was born on

November 28, 1940 in

Minot, the son of Edward

and Irene (Sitch) Zakopy-

ko. He grew up on the

family farmstead north of

Kief and attended elemen-tary school in Kief before

transferring to Balfour

Public School in 1955. He

graduated from Balfour

High School in 1958. In

October of 1958 he enlist-ed in the US Navy and

served aboard the Des-

troyer Escort Cory before

being transferred to the

USS Tidewater, a repair

ship. He was honorably

discharged from the Navy

in November of 1961 and

remained an active life

member of the Butte

American Legion Post

#270. Following his

discharge, he worked vari-

ous construction jobs un-

til 1964 when he began

farming with his father.

Warren married Elaine

Hoffer on June 20, 1964 in

Butte. He farmed, milked

cows, and raised range

cows until November of

2006. He had one of the

first round hay-balers in

the area and did custom

baling from 1975-2005.

Through the years he

made thousands of round

bales with just one baler.

He also planted trees for

the Soil Conservation Ser-

vice, even fabricating a

custom tree planter.

He attended ND State

School of Science in

Wahpeton from 1969-

1972, earning a degree in

machine tooling. He used

his trade, learned from

the Navy and Wahpeton,

to do welding and

machine work in his farm

shop for many area farm-

ers. He created many or-

namental pieces for

Elaine’s Garden, Jorie’s

yard and various gates

and signs for area

cemeteries.

Warren helped form the

Kief Farmers Elevator and

served as board of direc-

tors for many years. He

was clerk/treasurer for

Land Township from

1972 until his passing. He

read meters for Verendrye

Electric Cooperative for

25 years. Warren was a

member of the Balfour

Lutheran Church until its

closing in 2016 and

served on the church

council for many years.

He then became a

member of the Liberty

Baptist Church of Kief

where he looked forward

to attending church every

Sunday, even when he

wasn’t feeling well. He

served on the Butte

School Board for two

terms, was a director for

the rural fire district for

Land Township, served

on the Drake Creamery

board, was president of

the Kief School Alumni

for its 75th anniversary

and president of Kief

Cemetery board. Warren

was an active member of

the Drake Threshing As-

soc. and served as their

president for five years.

He was currently serving

as president of the North

Dakota State Steam

Threshing Association.

He traveled to many

threshing shows around

the U.S. and Canada and

especially enjoyed it

when his family (some-

times reluctantly) accom-

panied him. He loved

visiting with people and

seeing the old machinery.

He was also an avid toy

collector. Warren was a

very active volunteer with

Farm Rescue from 2007

until 2017 and took great

pride in helping other

farmers in need. Once re-

tired, he enjoyed traveling

the U.S. with his wife and

appreciated their time to-

gether.

He is survived by his

wife of 54 years, Elaine;

his children, Paul (Lisa)

Zakopyko of Minot, Jorie

(Lon) Falcon of Trenton,

and Gena Zakopyko of

Minot; grandchildren,

Sawyer, Cullen, Rio, Ken-

zie, Dawson, and

Marshall; and brothers

Ryan (Diane) of WA and

Jim of WA.

He was preceded in

death by his parents,

cherished son Dean, and

most recently his sister-

in-law Cindy.

Visitation: Thursday

from 4 P.M. to 6 P.M. at

Nelson Funeral Home in

Drake.

Funeral: Friday, Janu-

ary 11, 2019 at 11:00 A.M.

at Oak Valley Lutheran

Church in Velva.

Burial: Kief Cemetery

in Kief, ND.

Online condolences

may be shared at nelson

funeralhomesnd.com.