Robert Eugene Pile

Robert E. Pile, 94, Orlando, FL, formerly of Fargo, passed away June 4, 2016, at Life Care Center in Orlando. We lost a good man - one of the last of the Greatest Generation who sacrificed so much and the last surviving member of his family.

Robert Eugene Pile was born April 5, 1922, to Eugene Walker and Charlotte (White) Pile in Rolette, ND. Bob graduated in May 1943 from North Dakota Agriculture College (now NDSU) with a BS in Agriculture Engineering. He served in the US Navy from August 1942 to July 1946 aboard the USS Waukesha in the South Pacific. He returned from WWII to a job in the Ag Extension program at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul campus, where he met and fell in lifelong love with Constance Olive Sandberg, marrying her on September 13, 1947, in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

Bob and Connie returned to Cando, North Dakota to work the family farm. In the mid-1950's, he took a job with The Rural Electric Service bringing electricity to farms, turning that opportunity into 30 years with Northern States Power (now Xcel Energy), and retiring in 1984 as Vice President of Gas Operations for NSP. He loved to spend time with family and watch grandchildren grow up. He loved fishing, playing cards, exercising in the pool, taking long walks in the morning, sharing coffee and news with the guys at Randy's and dinner on Friday nights with friends from Faith Church.

He was a founding member of Faith UMC and active in the church until he was 92. He lost his beloved Connie in February 2000. Bob was a lifelong leader in the Boy Scouts and also volunteered as a driver for The Fargo Blood Bank in North and South Dakota. When it became apparent that because of health issues he could no longer live alone, he moved to Orlando in April 2015 to live with his son Jim and his wife.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Connie, his sister Margaret Slingsby, brothers Donald and Roy, and Connie's brothers Lynn, Robert, and Dixon Sandberg.

He is survived by his five children, Mary Knebel, Luverne, MN; Thomas, Briarcliff Manor, NY; James (Kate), Orlando, FL; Karen, Lillian, TX; and Jean (Ed) Robinson, Hauser, ID; four grandchildren, Tracie Lynn Fullerton, Auckland, NZ; Emma Nicole Pile, Albany, NY; Robert Benjamin Pile, Millwood, NY; and Brandon (Denae) Robinson, Post Falls, ID; three step-grandsons, Ryan (Amber) Stockholm, West Valley, UT; Ebon Robinson, Heber, UT; Dustin (Sue) Robinson, Peca, UT; one great-granddaughter, Lucy Gwendolyn; and five step-great-grandchildren, Andrew and Aaron Stockholm, Killian Robinson, and Ada and Abel Robinson.