Fredrick Mike (Fritz) Hochhalter was born January 4, 1934, to Mike and Bertha (Kapsch) Hochhalter, at Elgin, North Dakota.  Fritz is the youngest of Mike and Bertha's five children, Ray, Elmer, Violet, Alice and Fritz.  The family lived and farmed approximately 14 miles south of Elgin.  Fritz finished his grade school years at a "country school."  He graduated from Elgin Public High School in 1952.  He completed telegraphy training at Gale Institute, Minneapolis, MN, after high school.  He worked for a remodeling and repair contractor while attending Gale Institute.

Fritz accepted a position as a "Depot Relief Agent" for the Great Northern Railroad in northeastern North Dakota, after completing his telegraphy training.  He transferred to the Milwaukee Railroad in southern North Dakota, the same year.  He married Corine Ida (Cora) Bender in Elgin, North Dakota, on October 19, 1953.  Fritz entered the United States Army at Fort Snelling in 1953; he began radio operator training in the Signal Corp., first at Fort Riley, Kansas, and continuing at Camp Gordon, Georgia.  He left for Fort Lewis, Washington after finishing his training where he prepared to ship out to Korea.  The Korean conflict ended while his ship was en route to Korea, so the Army sent him to Anchorage, Alaska.  The young couple shared new experiences in Alaska, including wild moose in the yard and even a large earthquake.  Fritz was honorably discharged from the Army at Fort Lewis, Washington in November 1955.  He returned to the Milwaukee Railroad.  Fritz and his growing family lived together in train depots and homes located in southwestern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota, before eventually returning to Elgin, North Dakota in 1960.  Numerous rural railroad stations closed during the late 1950s.  It became more difficult for rural railroads to compete with the trucking industry for freight such as grain and cattle.

In 1960 Fritz and his father-in-law Ruben Bender started a tavern in the Benders dry goods store and moved it to the former Haberman store building in Elgin.  Fritz and Corine managed Bender's Bar until 1966, when the family moved to Billings, Montana.  Fritz managed A to Z Rentals, a business owned by Mer-Mac, Inc.  Mer-Mac owned the Rimrock Lodge in Billings, which is where producers and actors stayed during the filming of Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman.  Fritz and a couple other Elgin ex pats came to have parts in making the film. It was filmed in an area close to Billings.  Ted and "Auggie" (Ted Eslinger, August Schock) rode horses as "extras" while Fritz helped solve a problem with production.  The "rain-making" special effects nozzle had failed. The movie producers needed to make rain for a key scene.  Fritz, who had maintained the pumps which were leased from A to Z Rentals, offered to help.  He fashioned a new "nozzle" out of a hand perforated plastic bag and attached it to the end of a pressurized water hose.  It worked!  The Hollywood engineers were amazed.   Watch the movie, smile and know the mountain "rain" on the screen is born of prairie ingenuity.

Fritz, Corine and all four children moved back to Elgin in 1970.  They soon included Great Uncle Hugo Kapsch into a room of the family home.  Fritz relocated and remodeled a two-car garage, where he and Corine then established a fast food restaurant.  He named the restaurant the "Triple H" using the three "H's" in Hochhalter.  The Triple H business thrived, Corine managed the Triple H, as Fritz separately (again) began farming small grains and as he grew his crop insurance business.  Fritz was among the first local farmers to grow sunflowers as a commercial crop in Grant county.  He built his own sunflower header and rebuilt an old grain truck to haul the crop.  In 1976, Fritz and his son-in-law Jerry Lee were among the first to volunteer for rescue and cleanup, after a devastating tornado struck Elgin, killing five.  He was a volunteer firefighter and community leader.  He participated regularly in community service leagues, softball, bowling, Elgin Days float construction and celebrations.  He often participated in planning Elgin Public (all-school) reunions.

Fritz and Corine sold the Triple H in 1978.  Fritz started a crop insurance agency in Mott, ND and worked as a field representative for National Ag Underwriters.  He accepted a management position in NAU's regional office in  Jamestown, North Dakota.  He and Corine retired and moved to Riverdale, North Dakota, in 1990 and then back home to Elgin.  Fritz invited all his children and their spouses on a "free" trip to Florida and the Bahamas.  Those who accepted the invitation traveled to Florida's Disney World, Epcot Center and cruised via ocean-liner to the Bahamas with Fritz and Corine.  At one point during the tour of Epcot Center, the family observed the unfortunate tragedy of the Challenger Space Shuttle, and helped the U.S. Navy recover fallen debris while ocean fishing near the crash site.  Corine battled Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for years.  She passed away on December 25, 1997, while she and Fritz were visiting family in Arizona.

Fritz liked to play cards with Corine and their friends; he taught himself to play guitar; he loved to grill steaks and play his "doodle-bug" (harmonica) for the kids at the end of the day.  He enjoyed hunting elk, deer, upland game and even rattlesnakes - which he sometimes "milked" and donated for NDSU's use in producing anti-venom.  Fritz loved to fish!  He fished on the rivers and in the creeks; he fished on ponds and even big lakes.  He fished with his children and friends, from Alaska and Canada back to Lake Tschida and all points between.  He enjoyed fishing "The Big Lake" in particular.  He and other family members caught walleye (his favorite) and salmon.  He did not want Northern Pike in the boat!  He loved to garden and was looking forward to spring planting in 2019.  He loved to preserve his produce.  He often pickled cucumbers and watermelons; he even canned turkeys with his kids.  He loved to hunt wild Juneberries and loved homemade ice cream - White Mountain brand ice cream freezers were his favorite.  Others were kind of "junk" he'd exclaim.  He loved watching sporting events on TV, especially the Minnesota Twins, and even the Vikings.  Fritz was a "jack-of-all-trades" often volunteering in service to family and friends.  He traveled to South America as a church volunteer.  At the time of his passing, he was in the process of preparing a special music recording, for a friend who had suffered the loss of a loved one.  He repaired watches and appliances as a young man and throughout life, just for fun.  He loved glee club in high school and continued singing throughout his life, including karaoke.  He enjoyed woodworking; he even donated two of his fingers to the hobby.  He helped build backyard playsets for kids; built ginger-bread houses with his children; cooked restaurant quality Chinese dinners, and helped with home renovations for his kids; he learned to downhill ski at Big Sky, MT, in his 50s; and, he became a master of computer assisted communication, research, and social media.  He loved to learn; he thought learning was important at all ages of life.  Just weeks before his death, he proudly built his own home kegerator, complete with a tower that was built from an oak wine box he brought home from a trip to Italy.  He contacted the mini-fridge manufacturer (for schematics) and researched the construction process online.

Fritz was preceded in death by his wife, Corine; parents Mike and Bertha (Kapsch) Hochhalter; brothers Elmer and Raymond  Hochhalter; and his sister Violet (Harry) Keierleber.

Left to mourn his passing are:  His two sons and one daughter-in-law, Clare and Susan Hochhalter, Bismarck; Daryl Lee "Skeeter" Hochhalter, his partner Glenda Crain, Dickinson; two daughters and sons-in-law, Cindy and Jerry Lee, Mandan; Cherri and Berwyn Brucks, Mandan; 11 grandchildren, Yvonne (Ken) Imbry, Jamestown; Candice (Richard) Steidler, Bismarck, Cassandra Lee (partner, Tyler Smith) Mandan, Daniel Lee, Mandan, Cinnamon (Brian) Schuck, Bismarck, Christine Brucks, Mandan, Christopher (Ally) Brucks, Fargo, Quinn Hochhalter, Sacramento, CA, (fiancee Andy Askew, Bismarck); Colton Hochhalter, Brooklyn, NY, Laine Hochhalter, Missoula, MT, Sam Hochhalter, Sacramento, CA; 21 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren; one sister and brother-in-law, Alice and Doug Zeller; two sisters-in-law, Luella and Elaine Hochhalter.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages memorials to any one of the civic, service or Elgin Public School support organizations in Elgin.   Fritz and Corine were married for 44 years, before her unexpected death in 1997, …now, they're united again.