David D. Gordon was born November 2, 1938, in LaMoure, ND to Delmer D. and Martha M. Klein Gordon. He attended a rural one room schoolhouse and then attended and graduated from LaMoure HS in 1956.

Although David had planned to continue in the farming tradition of his father, his life took a different path. He attended the University of North Dakota where he was a member of the SAE fraternity and graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Law.

David met his beautiful bride, Jane Kaiser, at UND, and they married December 27, 1961. After briefly living in North Fargo, they moved to South Fargo where they raised their three girls: Martha Arnhart (Randall) Waco, TX, Andrea Frost (Erik) Afton, OK, and Allison Cook (Eric) Justin, TX.

David began his career at Merchants National Bank in Fargo. Later, he was hired by the Fargo National Bank as Trust Officer in their newly created Trust Department. He would eventually serve as Sr. Vice President & Trust Officer of Fargo National and as President of Fargo National’s successor, First Interstate Bank. He continued his career as Executive Vice President and Chief Trust Officer of First Interstate Bank in Des Moines, IA.

The defining characteristic of David’s life was that he loved people. He loved his Fargo community by serving as a member, and often times president/chairman, of various organizations and institutions: Kiwanis, Jaycees, Elks, Eagles, YMCA, Fargo Board of Education, Chamber of Commerce, Fargo Board of Adjustment, and Red River Art Center. He and his wife, Jane, also served in their churches: Faith United Methodist, Calvary United Methodist, and Cormorant Lutheran. They were also instrumental in bringing Young Life to Fargo as original committee members.

David loved his family! As husband, he honored and loved his wife for almost 50 years and lived out the marriage vow, in sickness and in health, as he cared for her through her many bouts of cancer over 2 decades. As dad, he loved his three girls by prioritizing their activities, supporting their dreams, and consistently making time for them no matter the time or distance. As Grampa Dave, he loved his eight grandsons from the time they were babies, to attending every high school and college graduation, as well as every wedding. To his seven great-grandchildren that he absolutely adored, he was affectionately known as Dave. They loved to crawl up in his lap and he would often get right down on the floor with them. He loved and enjoyed his extended family, including Jane’s sister, Nancy Dawson, and his many nieces and nephews.

Dave loved his friends and neighbors from LaMoure to Fargo to Des Moines, to TX, CA, & AZ, to Pelican Lake. Great times were spent golfing, hunting, golfing, playing softball, fishing in Canada, golfing, playing bridge, partying with the investment club, enjoying happy hour on the deck, and GOLFING. All the neighbor kids knew who to come to for a “freezee”. Throughout his life and right up to the end, “No one had more fun than Dave Gordon!”

David died peacefully November 26, 2023, in Surprise, AZ from complications of bone marrow cancer and pneumonia. He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, his eight grandsons: Bracken (Katie), Harris (Rachel), Truitt (Chloe), and Kaiser (Madison) Arnhart, Nik (Bailee), and Hyatt Frost, and Dalton (Erica) and Hunter ‘Ozzy’ Cook (Rachel), and his great-grandchildren Noel, Marah, Olivia, Elanor, Axton, Hudson, Elsie, and Aniston (due May 2024).

He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Marge Kurtz, and wife Jane.

There will be a celebration of Dave’s life July 19th, 11 a.m. at Cormorant Lutheran Church and an open house at his Pelican Lake home that evening 4-7 p.m.

The family suggests donations to Greater Waco Young Life or Cormorant Lutheran Church

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