On May 4, 2017, Winton Elmer Bakke of Severna Park, Maryland passed away peacefully at Hospice of the Chesapeake. He was 90 years old. Born on a farm near Kensal, ND, 1926 to Elmer and Nanna Jacobson Bakke, Winton lived on 6 different farms before he was 8 years old due to depression, drought, and plagues of farming in ND in the 20's and 30's.
He graduated from Kensal high School in 1943 and as he was only 16, too young to enter service in WWII at that time, he worked for an oil exploration company in California and Texas for the next year and a half. He then joined the U.S. Navy in 1944, but due to a leg injury, received an Honorable Medical discharge from the service. Winton then joined the U.S. Merchant Marines, sailed the Pacific for the next year and a half to the Philippines and New Guinea, including one trip with a load of ammunition. After the war ended, he entered college in 1946 at Wahpeton College in ND. After one year, he transferred to the University of North Dakota, majoring in Chemical Engineering.

After two years at UND, financial problems forced him to drop out of school. He then worked for the Alaskan Section, U.S. Geological Service for a year and a half in their San Francisco office and in Alaska before returning to UND, graduating in 1952 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. After graduating, he was hired by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio, where he spent the next three years in a training program and as a production supervisor. He left Goodyear in 1955 and went to work for the General Electric Co., Laminated products division, in Coshocton, Ohio, as an engineering and manufacturing manager. In Ohio, he met his wife, Blanche, and they were married in 1955. They had two daughters, Constance, born in 1957, and Susan, born in 1958. Winton kept his parental farm in North Dakota after his parents passed, and since retiring, rents out his farm and spends part of his summers in ND, as well as his time in his MD home and his Bethany Beach, DE home. Planting thousands of trees on his farm and going no-till for crops has been his contribution to Greening over the past 20 years.

In addition to his wife, Blanche V. Bakke and his two daughters, he is survived by four grandchildren. Josh, Lauren, and Emily Noble are Connie and George Noble's children; and John Wesley (Wes) Hughes is Susan and Ron Hughes's son. Winton is also survived by a granddaughter-in-law, Kaylan Noble, and grandson-in-law Nicholas Grasso, and expected in August, his first great granddaughter. Hobbies included antique cars and tractors; as well as Civil War history. He volunteered for Meals on Wheels for many years. He was a member of the Church of Larger Fellowship, and the Unitarian-Universalist Church, both of Boston, Mass for over 50 years.

Family and friends may visit on Saturday, May 20, 2017 from 11am to 1pm at the Barranco & Sons, P.A. Severna Park Funeral Home, 495 Ritchie Hwy. Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made in Mr. Bakke's memory to Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland, Development Office, 515 South Haven Street, Baltimore, MD 21224.

Online condolences may be made at www.barrancofuneralhome.com