Duaine Marxen, 65, of MOTT ND, passed away on Sunday, December 12, 2021 at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, OR, due to complications from Covid.

Celebration of life service will be held on January 9 ^th , 2022 at 2:00pm @ The Castle in Regent, ND. A meal will be served following the service. All are welcome to stay for the meal and visit with family and friends.

Duaine was born April 24, 1956 to Harold and Helen (ALTHOFF) Marxen in Pipestone, MN.  During his youth, he was very active in 4H and FFA showing beef, sheep, and swine.  His highest accomplishment was placing third high individual at the national FFA meats judging contest. He graduated from the Pipestone School district in 1974. After high school, Duaine attended South Dakota State University to pursue a degree in Animal Science. While at SDSU, Duaine was an active member of the collegiate meats judging team. He also had many fond memories of the crazy shenanigans with his roommates, Dave Gregg and Brad Gehring who have remained lifelong friends. Duaine received a Bachelor's degree in Animal Science in 1978. After graduating college, he returned to the family farm with his parents and brother, Bill.

He was united in marriage with Cindy Kunze on January 30th, 1981.  He was a devoted husband, and took enjoyment in doting on his wife. A fond memory was during Cindy's first pregnancy when Duaine went to get her ice-cream in his cowboy boots and skivvies. Together they had 3 children, Aaron, Allison, and Benjamin. Duaine and Cindy raised the children on the family dairy in Pipestone. They enjoyed many memories of milking cows together. Snow storms made for great bonding times in the barns. Duaine enjoyed watching his kids sled down the huge snow piles of 1997. They would sled down the hill, across the driveway, and under a pickup to be stopped by the side of the barn ending their sledding track. He would hear the thuds while working in the barn. Duaine despised pets in the house. One of the iconic pet stories was their dog named Widdles. The puppy received this name after coming up to Duaine and piddling on his boot. There were many barn cats that would often find themselves in the house as well. While milking, Duaine had a bull named Melvin that would sneakily come up to the parlor, grab the side of the bucket of rags and proceed to drop them all the way back to the barn, causing Duaine to stop milking and pick up the rags. And screaming at the bull the whole way. Duaine took pride in watching his children grow up with the love of farming and agriculture.

In October of 2001, Duaine retired from farming due to health reasons and sold out of the dairy.  Duaine and Cindy then moved to a lake home on Big Stone Lake in Big Stone City, South Dakota. His family was his pride and joy, and to relax with them on the lake after many years of farming was a significant milestone in his life.  Duaine came to realize his love for cars and enjoyed going to car shows with Aaron and having long talks about different models. They both shared the love for Lincolns. Duaine even bought Aaron's first car, a Lincoln Mark 7. He loved the connections he could have with each of his children. Duaine planned a romantic night at the lake for Allison's prom. He decorated their porch with lights and hosted her very own prom for just her and her now husband. In the summer months Duaine enjoyed fishing, boating, maintaining the 100 feet of sandy shoreline, flower gardening and fireworks during the 4 ^th of July celebrations. He was very devoted to the precious sand that he brought in and put on the shoreline. His biggest threat to the shoreline were the Canadian snow geese that loved the sand as well. There were many times that you found Duaine running to the shoreline flapping his arms to get them to fly away. He had an electric fence line that he kept going to keep them off the shoreline as well. There were multiple flower beds that Duaine built Cindy. He would always laugh when Cindy was helping him and came across a gardener snake that would send here running and screaming for the house. He loved fireworks and enjoyed watching the bottle rocket wars that Benjamin and his friends would have. He also enjoyed the time spent on the boat pulling Benjamin and his friends on the tubes. In despite of Duaine's "disapproval" of pets, Cindy and Benjamin brought home a cocker-spaniel while Duaine was laid up after knee surgery. To make the matter worse, they named the dog "Dewey". In which most will refer to that as a nickname of Duaine. He always referred to the dog as "livestock" and said he was done with chores and didn't need anymore. But, deep down he enjoyed his regular scheduled walks with the dog. During the winter months, Duaine enjoyed snowmobiling with family at his daughter's house in northern Minnesota.  He was often the one needing to be rescued from a moving snowdrift getting in his way.  He was also a constant danger to any trees smaller than a dinner plate in diameter. He loved the night rides on the trails and stopping to eat at many of the great food places in the small towns of Northern Minnesota. Duaine began his Extension career in 2006 with SDSU Extension as the Grant county extension agent in Milbank, SD.  He took great pride in the accomplishments of the 4H kids he worked with.  During his time in Milbank, he coached the Grant County general livestock team. In 2011 the livestock team took 1 ^st place at the South Dakota State competition. The team then went on to nationals in Louisville Kentucky.  He also enjoyed the goat program and was the goat supervisor for many years at the State Fairs in both South and North Dakota. Goat soon became a four-letter word in the Marxen household. Through the supervisor role, he became a life-long friend with Clint Clark, and enjoyed their long talks, reminiscing of 4H, SDSU and their extension glory days.

In January 2012, Duaine and Cindy moved to Mott, North Dakota where he continued his extension agent career with NDSU Extension as the Hettinger County agent.  During his time in Mott, the 4-H program grew from 32 to 75 members. Duaine started the shooting sports program in both archery and shotgun.  He also helped coach the 2019 shotgun team where they took 1 ^st place at the North Dakota State championship.  After the unfortunate destruction of the 4H fair building from the tornado in 2019, Duaine was very proud of the communities of Hettinger County coming together to rebuild the 4H static building through donations and volunteer time in the decision making and planning of the new building. Duaine was enthusiastic about fundraising. Each year at the 4H premium sale he had a funny story to get businesses to donate to the 4H program. The stories often included a goat and colorful clothing. He also enjoyed taking 4H static exhibits to the State Fair in Minot. Chaperoning at 4H camps in Washburn was another fun pastime of Duaine's extension career. Duaine loved Christmas and decorating the courthouse for Christmas. He took joy in the Christmas in the Courthouse open house event each year. His favorite, was receiving the hilarious white elephant gifts from coworkers. You could always find these hilarious gifts in his extension office. Some of which were bacon dryer sheets housing the book of "Useless" information, and John Wayne toilet paper. Duaine's laughter was infections and definitely not quiet. His laughter was often heard down on the first floor of the courthouse.  His smile and laughter touched many people in the communities of Hettinger County. During the Covid pandemic, NDSU relied heavily on technology and delivering programs all through computers and the internet. Anyone that knew Duaine knew that he was technologically challenged, barely being able to operate his smart phone most days. With the shift to deliver more programs via online, the stresses of the job started to take their toll. Duaine's passion in his position was the 4H program. As the guidelines of Covid prevented him from having in person events, the stress of the position grew stronger. He decided to retired from the extension agent position in January of 2021. He was ecstatic to hear that his daughter-in-law Heidi was offered his extension agent position and carry on his legacy in Hettinger county.

During the summer of his retirement, Duaine was able to get back into a tractor again as he helped plant trees for the Soil Conservation in Hettinger & Slope counties. Duaine found great enjoyment in his grandchildren. Being able to read books and watch movies with Charlette and Makayla here in Mott was his way of bonding with his granddaughters. His funny character impersonations and goofy voices sent the girls radiating in laughter that could be heard all throughout the house. He was especially good at the Donald Duck and Cookie Monster voice impersonations. In October of 2021, he went to Silverton Oregon, to spend time with his daughter, son-in-law, and their children.  While there, he discovered the possibilities of winter gardening.  He then commandeered the greenhouse and the grandkids and proclaimed them slaves to the gardening adventure.  He taught them the beauty and wonders of creating soil by mixing top soil, composted manure, and peat by hand.  His unique laughter was heard 3 houses down as he walked them through building the raised beds and starting the seeds. He would be found having an animated argument with his daughter over the value or lack thereof (her opinion), of radishes. One of his most favorite garden vegetables to eat. He was enjoying retirement and being able to share his love of growing things and life lessons to all his grandchildren.

On November 7th he was diagnosed with Covid.  He fought hard and tried to refuse going to the doctor. He was put on home oxygen soon after diagnosis, and on December 3 ^rd he was admitted to the ICU in Portland. After receiving the call of his admittance, Aaron, Cindy, Heidi and Dewey (or "Stupid" the nickname Duaine often referred to the dog as) began the trek out to Portland with Duaine's beloved Excursion. This 2001 excursion went on many family vacations and he always belly-ached when it broke down. The old girl was going strong at 385,000 some miles when the water pump gave out on the trip to Portland. When Cindy chatted with Duaine right before they intubated him, she told him who was on their way out and that they had to fix the excursion, he laughed and said it wasn't necessary, and that he was fine.  The excursion was fixed and they were back on the road that day. Duaine continued to fight to regain his lung strength until December 12th, 2021 when he went home to our Lord, surrounded by his family.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife Cindy, children: Aaron Marxen (Mott, ND), Allison and Daniel Bush (Silverton, OR), Benjamin and Heidi Marxen (Regent, ND) and grandchildren: Lillian, Isaac, Alayna, Sarah, Charlette, and Makayla. His brother William (Iva) Marxen (Sioux Falls). Mother-in-law Connie Thompson (Hawarden, IA). Brothers-in-law: Steve Kunze (Kathy Taylor, Ortonville, MN), Mike Kunze (Paul Engen, Onawa, IA), and Patrick Thompson (Colleen, Pierre, SD). Sisters-in-law: Julie Landstrom (Omaha, NE), Chris (Steve Toft, Hawarden, IA), Jan Thompson (Hawarden, IA), Collette (Doug Martin, Merrill, IA) and many nieces and nephews.