Richard Carl Schaan Sr., the son of Carl Schaan and Lois (Monger) Schaan, was born in Rugby, North Dakota on November 23, 1945 and passed peacefully surrounded by his family on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at the Trinity Medical Center in Minot, North Dakota.

At ten years of age, Richard’s father injured his neck and needed help, so Richard jumped on a tractor and stayed on one until he harvested his last acre less than three weeks before he passed.  Family and farming defined Richard’s life, and after he married Sally Stone in 1966, he had his first three children—Jill, Carl, and Richard Jr.  In the fall of 1964 he worked at Jacobson’s Clothing Store and enjoyed working there until he purchased a Gulf Oil Bulk business and later purchased Johnny’s Auto Sales which became known as Schaan Oil all while he continued to farm with his father.

When the high grain prices of the 1970’s gave way to drought and lower prices in the 1980’s, Richard, like many farmers, found himself fighting to get back to where he once was.  But he had a plan.  Instead of planting his crop in the Spring and waiting to harvest in the Fall, he seeded in the Spring and then hauled his combines to Kansas, where winter wheat is cut in early June.  For twenty years he custom harvested from just after Memorial Day until just before Thanksgiving.  From the scorching hot Kansas summers to the beginning of our frigid North Dakota winters, Richard, along with his sons and the rest of his crew, cut wheat, barley, beans, corn, sunflowers… and loved every minute of it. 

It was also in the 80’s that Richard met and married Cindy Schmaltz on September 21^st, 1985, who loved and took care of him from the first day they married until he took his final breath two days before their thirty-second anniversary. Together Richard and Cindy added C&R Video to Schaan Oil, and more importantly, together they had and raised Richard’s last two children—Crystal and Levi.  As the years went by, Richard’s eldest son Carl, later joined by Levi took on more farming responsibility, allowing Richard a little more time to spend with his five children and his eight grandchildren, as well as all the loving members of the close-knit Schmaltz family that he married into.  Richard planted seeds every Spring, harvested crops every Fall, did snow removal every Winter, and loved his family all year round.  He worked for them but also for a reason that few are fortunate enough to have—because, hard as it was, for him, work was fun.

Richard attended school in Balta, ND graduating in 1964. He is survived by his wife Cindy; daughter Jill Schaan of Minneapolis, MN, grandchildren Rebecca, Aaron, Viktor and Sophia; son Carl (Bobbi) Schaan of Rugby, grandchildren Alek, Kage and Kenna; son Richard Schaan Jr.; and daughter, Crystal (Amos) Grove of  Rugby, granddaughter Emalyn; son Levi (Laura Harper) Schaan, Rugby; Glen Paul, Richard’s right hand man; mother, Lois Schaan, Minot; brother and sisters Wayne (Ellie) Schaan, Minot; Carol Anderson, Minot; Ruth (Wayne) Thiel, Rugby; and Cindy (Mike) Rubin, Birchwood, WI; mother-in-law Beatrice Schmaltz, Rugby; and many other cherished members of his extended family and friends. He was preceded in death by his father, Carl Schaan; brother Jim Schaan; and father-in-law Augustin Schmaltz.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, September 23 at Little Flower Catholic Church in Rugby with burial in the church cemetery.  Father Tom Graner, Celebrant and Father Michael Schommer, Concelebrant.

Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Friday with a Rosary and vigil prayer service beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Anderson Funeral Home in Rugby.  Visitation will continue Saturday from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home.  There will be no reviewal at the church.