Songwriter Don Pfrimmer dies at 78

Prominent country music songwriter Don Pfrimmer, who grew up in Whitefish, died of leukemia Dec. 7 at his home in Nashville. He was 78.

Pfrimmer was nominated for the Country Music Songwriters Hall of Fame this year for a body of work that spans four decades.

He moved to Nashville in the early 1970s and it wasn’t long before he began placing songs on the country charts. Among his most well-known copyrights are Tim McGraw’s “All I Want is a Life,” Diamond Rio’s “Meet in the Middle” and Ronnie Milsap’s “She Keeps the Home Fires Burning,” according to Music Row Magazine, which wrote about Pfrimmer’s accomplishments in its Dec. 8 edition.

He co-wrote his first Top 10 hit, “The Power of Positive Drinking,” sung by Mickey Gilley in 1978. Pfrimmer had a Top 10 hit nearly every year from the 1980s through the early 2000s. Ten of his songs went to No. 1.

“Mr. Mom,” recorded by Lonestar in 2004, was his most recent No. 1 hit.

Most recently he wrote for Cosmic Mule Music in Nashville. In recent years his songs have been recorded by Kenny Rogers, Neal McCoy, Rascal Flatts and bluegrass favorites Darin & Brooke Aldridge, among many others.

Pfrimmer wrote more than 450 songs during his long career, according to Music Row.

He was born in Great Falls as the eighth and youngest son of Robert and Lillian Pfrimmer. He graduated from Whitefish High School in 1958 and enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he excelled as an expert rifleman, according to family members.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in art, from the University of Montana. Following college he headed to Alaska where he worked as a commercial fisherman during the summers and as a schoolteacher the rest of the year on Kodiak Island. He also guided hunting and fishing expeditions.

Pfrimmer returned to Montana in 1971 to operate a knife factory with a friend, then decided to try his luck at songwriting, which led to his decision to move to Nashville in 1973.

Pfrimmer’s family described him as a Renaissance man who could hunt, fish, paint, sing, sculpt, draw and write poetry. He was a skilled woodworker who made furniture in his basement shop.

He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Gail, a son and daughter, four grandchildren and a brother, Charles Pfrimmer.

A memorial service to celebrate his life is being planned.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com