Nicholas Rausch
January 30, 1934 ~ March 3, 2017
Nicholas passed away on Friday, March 3, 2017 at his home in Fargo, under the care of Hospice of the Red River Valley, surrounded by his loving family.
Nicholas Joseph Rausch was born on January 30, 1934, the son of Matt and Edith (Schockman) Rausch in Berlin, ND. He grew up in this area and graduated from High School. Nicholas proudly served his country in the United States Air Force entering service in 1953. Following his discharge he returned to North Dakota and was united in marriage to Merlyn Good on August 8, 1958 in Valley City, ND. They made their home in Wahpeton, ND where he attended North Dakota State School of Science. After his graduation he worked for Park Grant in Wahpeton before moving to Fargo where they raised their family. In Fargo, Nicholas was a longtime employee of Western Paper. He and his brother, Jim, also owned and operated Rausch’s Liquor Store in Moorhead for many years.
Throughout the years, Nicholas loved spending days on the golf course – his favorite being in Hawley, MN. He made many friends while he managed “Rausch’s” softball team. In later years, he and many of his family members looked forward to their yearly trips to Arizona to visit Mike. Nicholas loved his family and cherished all of the time he could spend with them. He will be remembered for the many hours of family time spent around the bonfires he built.
Nicholas is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Merlyn of Fargo; his children – Rebecca (Greg) Savageau of Argusville, ND; Beth (Rudy) Desotel of Fargo; and Mike (Kandis) Rausch of Phoenix, AZ; his grandchildren – Kellie (Chris) Rivard, Jessica (Mitch) Goodmanson, Nicole (Bryan) McClean, Nicholas Rausch, Derek (Jennifer) Hinkle, Ashley (Joe) Hinkle, and Taylor Preston; and his 15 great-grandchildren. Also surviving is his brother, John (Mary Kay) Rausch.
MEMORIAL SERVICE: 2 PM Saturday, March 11, 2017 at Boulger Funeral Home and Celebration of Life Center in Fargo
GATHERING: one hour prior to the service in the funeral home on Saturday.
MILITARTY FUNERAL HONORS: Moorhead American Legion and the United States Air Force
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Nick will be greatly missed. His nightly bonfires in the summer and beautiful Holiday Light shows were well known and appreciated by all his neighbors and the entire Fargo Moorhead community. He always offered a smile and a chair to everyone.
MERLYN AND FAMILY, I am thinking of you and your family at this sad time, I have many happy memories of Nick, he was always the life of the party and had a quick answer for everything. He had a deep love for his family and will be missed by many. You are in my thoughts and prayers, sorry I can’t be there to give you a hug.
Hugs and Prayers from Arizona
Love, Joan
Merlyn, I am so sad to hear about Nick. I alwys had a good time giving him a hard time but mostly it was usually him giving me a hard time way more than the other way. I was always jealous of the bolo he wore! He had a great sense of humor and a great personality. Playing bingo and pull tabs at the Legion wont be the same when I come back to visit. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family
Merlyn and Family, I am very sorry to read this about Nick. He was always a good friend of mine, I remember our conversations from the 60’s on when he worked weekend at my Fathers gas station. Always a friend and always had a joke or two.
I’ll miss the “Big R”
I always looked forward to Nick’s visit at The Teller in Milnor to sell items from Western Paper. We often went out for a meal and always enjoyed an exchange of banter. Nick was a good man and a friend.
I was fortunate to get to know Nick through softball. Lots of great memories playing the game and then, of course, replaying them afterwards. I have to smile as I recall his sometimes “salty” way of disagreeing with umpires. Quite a character. We will miss you. Cheers. Rest in peace, my friend.
My thoughts & prayers go out to all of you at this time. I will always have fond memories of watching the softball games.
Our prayers are with you all Merlyn and family.
We want to extend our sympathy to the whole family on the passing of our cousin Nick. We are the Shockman sisters from Oakes, North Dakota. As all of us were growing up, visits to Berlin and our Grandfather Zack Shockman’s farm were a big part of our lives. We were the only girl cousins. All the Rausch guys: Duane, Gene, Jim, Nick, and John, along with cousins Jerome and Zack Horsager, had orders to watch out for Grandpa’s little princesses. And they did. The cousins, including Nick, were looked up to and admired. They were always older and smarter and athletic, and doing interesting things! Although we moved far away, the three of us still share wonderful memories. Rest In Peace, Nick!
Ann Marie Shockman Shenkle (Doylestown, PA) Colleen Shockman Ness (Tampa, FL) Sandra Shockman Meyer (Tampa, FL)
Becky, Greg and Family, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. May he rest in peace.
Merlyn, I am so sorry for your loss. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Tre
Our sympathy and prayers to Merlyn and the rest of the family.
I’ve always appreciated how kind and helpful Uncle Nick was when Dad was sick. He was there a lot and I know that both Mom and I appreciated it very much. I remember sitting with him in the room when Dad was in ICU. It was a fairly stressful time and when the nurse came in to check on Dad, Uncle Nick said he was kind of stressed and asked if it was ok for him to smoke there in the room. A little later with a different nurse, he said that he and I were kind of thirsty and wondered if the nurse would take up a collection from the other nurses to buy us a couple of pops.
Every Christmas eve on our way back from church, we used to drive by the house to see the Christmas light display. We’re going to miss that now.
Uncle Nick may be gone but he lives on in you and everyone’s lives that he touched.
Our warmest condolences, the sadness and pain surrounding the death of Nick, can bring with it an unexpected gift, and help families to become even closer. It can help bring shared memories to light, and be a reminder of love that was shared in the past.
Merlyn and family I am so sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you all. I worked with Nick for almost 20 years at Western Paper. He was a good friend and quite the jokester. He was always looking to tease someone. He will be missed. May the happy memories you have of Nick comfort you now and always.
My brother Jerome Horsager and myself (Zack) are first cousins to Nick and we all grew up together in the little town of Berlin. Nick was the oldest of the four of us and we all hung out together almost every day till we graduated from High School. Nick, Jerome, Jimmy and Zackie. In summer we went swimming in the creek and in winter we ice skated on that same creek. We were all on the same basketball and baseball teams. In basketball Nick and Jim were the forwards, Jerome was center and I played guard. The teams were mostly made up of cousins. . We had to pull John in from the eighth grade to field a baseball team made up of mostly Rausches and Horsagers. Nick was our pitcher and leader. He had a very unique sense of humor(Shockman influence) and he was always so interesting to talk to. The last time we(Jerome and Zack with our wives) saw Nick was at the horse races in Phoenix about 5-6 years ago. We had such a great time remembering old times and just spending the day together. I am so glad we had that time with him and his family. Jerome always kept me posted on Nicks health issues so we knew he was having some challenges. .When I was ten years old Nick shared a spiritual principle with me that he had learned in Catechism. This was uncharacteristic of Nick since he also taught us all how to swear like drunken sailors. He will be missed by his family and all his cousins too. Jerome does not know yet that Nick passed away. He is in the Hospital suffering from some serious heath problems and we will tell him when he gets better.
We were so sorry to hear that Nick passed away and our thoughts and prayers are with the family. May God be with you in this time of sorrow. From cousins Zack and Jerome Horsager and wives Estella and Barb.
Dear Merlyn and Family,
Nick will be greatly missed by everyone. Our entire family enjoyed all of his holiday decorations..he was sure proud of it all. They were all beautiful. He was a definite one of a kind man, who would help out everyone.We will miss him dearly. God bless you all.
Merlyn and family, So sorry to hear about Nick It has been many years since I’ve seen you guys, but I remember you well. Merlyn, I lost my wife Marlene Two years ago, so I know what you are going Through Take care, Dave Stroh.
Merlyn
On behalf of the staff of the Moorhead American Legion our hearts are heavy and saddened to hear of Nicks passing. Bingo sessions will not be the same without him. May you find peace in the coming days. Our doors our always open for you Merlyn.