David Wesley Tilton

David Wesley Tilton, 82, passed away at his home in Albert Lea, Minnesota, on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 30, 2024, at Ascension Lutheran Church in Albert Lea, Minnesota. A visitation will be held at 10:00 a.m. on the day of the service. Pastor Mark Boorsma will be officiating.

David was born on August 1, 1941, to Wesley and Julia Tilton in Conneaut, Ohio. David spent his early years in a small farming community in northeastern Ohio, loving the animals and wildlife surrounding the home. In his late teens, he married his high school sweetheart and relocated to Crescent City, California. David worked as a fisherman and in a large dairy plant, eventually becoming a supervisor. He had three sons, Robert, Mark, and James. Mark passed away at two months of age in 1963. In 1972, David remarried and became a father to three stepchildren. The family moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where David found work in the local meatpacking industry, again rising to the role of supervisor. When that plant closed, the company moved David to the main plant in Albert Lea, Minnesota. In 1984, David remarried and became a stepfather to four children. David and his wife worked together at the Farmstead meatpacking plant in Albert Lea.

Years following the death of his wife in a car accident, David and Betty Helgerson, a coworker in the office at the meatpacking plant in Albert Lea, combined households, retired from the meatpacking plant, and bought North Bridge Liquor in June 1994. They happily ran this store until 2002, when they officially retired. 

David and Betty continued to live together until his death on May 21, 2024. 

David had a lifelong love of flying with his small-plane pilot license, skydiving, and playing guitar, among other activities. David was a very patriotic and hard-working man. David is survived by his life partner, Betty Helgerson, as well as siblings, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.