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Herbert Christian Rasch
• 1915 - 2005 Herbert Christian Rasch, 89, Minot, died Wednesday, February 9, 2005, in a Minot nursing home. Herbert was born on August 21, 1915, on the family ranch north of Halliday, ND, in Dunn County the son of Christian and Lydia (Kruckenberg) Rasch. He was baptized and confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church, Halliday. Herbert grew up in the ranching country on the edge of the Badlands of the Little Missouri River Valley where he enjoyed riding, the annual round-ups and the rugged and beautiful landscape…He was united in marriage to Edna Lydia Lennick of Blue Grass and Otter Creek in Oliver County, ND on October 1, 1939, at the St. Marcus German Congregational Church in Blue Grass, ND. They met in Halliday, while she was a participant in the New Deal's National Youth Administration Program located there. The couple raised cattle and horses and farmed for eight years north of Halliday and on "The Horn Place" a few miles north of Golden Valley, ND, before moving to Minot in 1947. Herbert took a job at Great Northern Railroad for almost two years before joining the Dakota Transfer-United Buckinham-Ringsby United Trucking Company and became a member of Local 74 of the Teamster's Union in 1948. He served the trucking industry for 27 years. He was honored as a "Driver of the Month" by the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association in 1961, after 13 years of safe driving and was awarded several Certificates of merit for all of the years and month of accident free driving. He was called "a credit to Buckingham Freight Lines and to the entire trucking industry." Because he arrived wearing a cowboy hat his first day on the job at Dakota Transfer, he was endearingly referred to as "Tex" by all who knew him during those years. Herbert served The United State Air Force at Minot Air Force Base in several capacities for 7 years. He was an Air Field Clearing Equipment Operator removing snow from the runways for the B-52's and Packing Inspector with SAC 91st Transportation Squadron who helped move the belonging of the USAF personnel to and from their new assignments. He was very proud of his service to the Air Force and reluctantly retired in November of 1980. He cherished his association with the United States Air Force and his opportunity to serve his country in that way. He always renewed his passes and permits onto the MAFB and his member ship in NARFE long after his retirement and often found reasons to visit there. Herbert and his wife, Edna, kept the dear friends that they met there in their thoughts always. They were avid square dancers at the base and loved celebrating Thanksgiving there in their retirement years. Herbert enjoyed the rich life of rural North Dakota and often reevaluated his decision to leave farming and ranching. He was a great and patient observer of nature; teacher of carpentry, animal behavior, fishing and hunting; marksmanship and gun safety. He loved Blue Grass and Country Western music and refused to buy a car with a radio in it for years because, he and his wife Edna wanted to fill the log silences on drives to Halliday and Otter Creek singing the songs of the Carter Family, Gene Autry and Roy Acuff. Christmas at the Rasch ranch was filled with music and always included brothers and sisters singing and playing with Herb on the fiddle. Herbert devoured the books of Louis Lamour and Zane Grey and collected books on Native American culture and the life of ranching in Western North Dakota. Theodore Roosevelt was his idea of a great American. Herb grew up loving the people of Fort Berthold. He named his son after a best friend from that society and culture. One of his friends once said that Herb did not have an enemy in the world. His dreams were often larger than he could bear, and, his last was that he and Edna could spend their final years together with more new friends at Dakota Terrace. They were a team. Together they were a natural force and, their son was always in awe of their partnership. They built three garages and two houses with their own hands in their evening after work. One was built from blueprints and the occasional help of brothers and sisters and friends. The other was completed from an unfinished shell. Any house they built became a great home and, their hospitality was legendary. The coffee was always on for anyone who entered their driveway. They came to love their life in Minot, even Herbert whose heart was always tugged toward the pastures and hills and memories of ranch life in Dunn County. Survivors: Son, Carroll Herbert and daughter-in-law,
Barbara Inez Dodds Rasch, Saint Louis Park, MN; grandchildren,
Cheraye Leslie Romanoff, Rye, NY, and Colette Kelly (Dimitri)
Kopendakha, Minnetonka, MN; great-grandchildren, Nicholas Evan
Romanoff, Rye, NY, Eliah, Gabriel and George Kopendakha, Minnetonka,
MN; step grandchildren, Gregory (Annette) Goldstein, Santa Monica,
CA; step great-granddaughter, Kylie Goldstein, Santa Monica,
CA, and Claire (Matthew) Swanson, Denver, CO, and Chicago, IL;
brothers, Arthur Rasch, Minot, Walter Rasch, Prescott Valley,
AZ; Albert Rasch, Eckert, CO and Richard Rasch, Cordova, AK,
and Halliday; sisters, Edna Transtrom, Halliday, and Agatha (Chester)
Shossow, Casper, WY. Herbert was preceded in death by his beloved
wife, Edna Lydia, his parents, Christian and Lydia, brothers,
Roland, Otto, George Rasch and sisters, Erna (Walter) Knutson
and Hilda Katherine Rasch. Visitation: Monday, February 14, 2005, from Noon until 7 p.m. at the Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot. Prayer Service: Monday, February 14, 2005 at 7 p.m. at the funeral home with family present from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. to meet and visit with friends. Burial will take place at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, February 15, 2005, at Sunset Memorial Gardens, Minot.
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