Richard E. Schalow

CROSSLAKE - Richard Edward "Dick" Schalow, 76, of Crosslake, passed away at his home Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27, at Crosslake Lutheran Church with the Rev. Mark Anderson officiating. Friends may call beginning at 10 a.m. Interment will be at a later date. Family prefers memorials to World Hunger or the Post-Polio Awareness and Support Society of Minnesota.

Dick was born at home in Pipestone, Minn., July 4, 1929, to Otto and Minnie (Gnotke) Schalow. Dick grew up in Pipestone and graduated from high school there in 1947. He completed courses to earn a business degree at Mankato Business College in 1949. Dick got his first job in Mankato as a bank teller before moving back to Pipestone to work for Hess Trucking Company. It was here where Dick met his future wife of 53 years, Ella Wischmann. The pair was married April 4, 1952, in Pipestone. He transferred to St. Paul in 1954 to become an office manager for Hess. Dick stayed there until 1958 when his brother, Otto, convinced him to move to the north country and purchase a postcard company in Crosslake. This business was eventually renamed NMN, Inc., and he remained active with it until the day he died. In the early years, Dick and Ella took on many part time jobs during the off-season. His favorite was managing the bowling alley in Manhattan Beach.

Dick was very active in the local community. He was an active member of Crosslake Lutheran Church as well as a former church council member and long time treasurer. Dick was instrumental in modernizing the local telephone system and was a charter member of the Crosslake Fire Department. He was also a charter member of the Crosslake/Ideal Lions Club where he worked diligently on the scholarship committee. Dick was a past clerk of Watertown Township.

Dick enjoyed hunting pheasants in his younger days, finding time to fish and getting together with friends and family to tell stories and jokes while playing cards. He loved going on the road selling postcards and meeting new friends. Most of the time he loved his #%!!# Vikings, but not more than his beloved wife and best friend, Ella, and his son, Timothy, who were the loves of his life.

Dick may have been limited physically, but he always took great delight in the successes of others no matter what the sport, activity or occasion. If there was a game on, you knew where to find him.

Dick is survived by his wife, Ella, of Crosslake; his son, Timothy, and daughter-in-law, Beth, of Merrifield; his sister, Irene Earl, of San Juan, Texas; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Irene Schalow, Bertha Carson, Martha Wittfoth, Esther and Jim Carstensen and Hilda Wischmann, all of Pipestone, Helen and Ted Silva, of Crosslake, Robert and Lynda Wischmann, of Scotland, UK, and many nieces and nephews. His parents; and his brother, Otto, had preceded him in death.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Brenny Funeral Chapel of Crosslake.