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Funeral services for Duane Schatz, age 82, of Elgin, ND, will be held at 10:30 a.m. MT on Friday, February 12, 2021 at the Elgin Community Center in Elgin, ND.  Burial will follow at 3:00 p.m. CT at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery south of Mandan, ND.  Pastor Nathan Laska will officiate with military honors being afforded by the George W. Snook American Legion Post #246 of Elgin, ND, and the Mandan VFW 707 of Mandan, ND.

The funeral service will be livestreamed on Duane's obituary on our website at www.evansonjensenfuneralhome.com .

Visitation will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. MT on Thursday, February 11, 2021 at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Elgin, ND.

Duane Schatz of Elgin, ND, former publisher of Grant County News and Carson Press passed away suddenly and peacefully the afternoon of Saturday, February 6, 2021, due to his battle with congestive heart failure. He was 82. Schatz was involved with the newspaper all his life starting with the Carson Press during his freshman year in high school in Carson. He began working at the Carson Press, the official county newspaper for Grant County, published at the time by Hugh Pfitzpatrick. Schatz worked at the press office after school running the linotype, setting all the types, and advertising for the weekly newspaper. He also ran the Babcock printing press that printed four pages at a time during those early years assisting Myrtle Pfitzpatrick and Herschel Adams, who kept the newspaper running each week as an important business in the community.

Along with working at the Carson Press in high school he participated in some basketball, football, and lettered in track. He attended the state track meet running the 440-yard dash and placed third in the state in 1957. He won numerous medals and ribbons in track with what he stated as one of his finest accomplishments being, beating Merril ReinHiller of Elgin for the spot to attend the state track meet in the 440-yard dash.

Following high school in 1957, he worked and managed the Carson Press for two years before being drafted into the US Army on July 16, 1959. George Gebhardt, (a Banty Rooster) was the Grant County Selective Service Officer who drafted Schatz. Along with Duane Schatz of Carson, four more young men were drafted from Grant County and they left by bus from Carson to Fargo to have physicals and then to go onto Fort Ord, California for basic training. The four other young men included Lynn (Luke) Utter of McIntosh, SD (deceased on 12/2/02); Kenneth Vetter (deceased); Wayne Sauer, of McIntosh, SD; and Balzer Ternes of Raleigh. A troop train carried the many young men from Fargo across North Dakota to Kennewick, Washington, and then down to Fort Ord, California.

After completing the first eight weeks of training the whole unit was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for additional training. There Schatz began training as a communication specialist (MS-311) fixing telephones and learning to climb telephone poles. Following their training, the five soldiers received a two-week furlough back to Grant county before completing their orders to depart to Oakland, California, and then go overseas to Korea. After everyone got processed and received shots in every arm, Utter, Vetter, Sauer, and Ternes received orders to go by boat to Korea. Schatz was left behind and later flew by an 18 passenger aircraft to Hawaii, Guam, Japan, and later Korea. He was in Korea about 20 days before the 2000 troops arrived. The young men from Grant County were all together again in the Seventh Cavalry of the headquarters company and were able to see each other on a daily basis.  Schatz was in headquarters company where he worked to change crystals for the troops in the line companies that were going out on training sessions. The officers each had jeep radios that were all synchronized with handheld radios in the line companies. A switchboard was set up in the back of a 3/4 ton truck and wires for all the companies were strung to all the company headquarters.

After 11 months in Korea and one winter along the 38th parallel, the troops got ready to head back to the states. All five soldiers received orders to go back by a 2000 person troop carrier. Upon arriving back in Oakland California all five soldiers were released to go home approximately one month early on June 16, 1961. They rode the Greyhound bus back to North Dakota.

After the two years in the army and returning home jobs were not that plentiful. Schatz went to the unemployment office in Mandan in late July 1961. There he was approached by T.H. Vicars and was asked if he knew how to climb poles. Once he replied "yes", Schatz was hired right on the spot for a position in Long Valley, SD. Upon completing the telephone contract between Long Valley and Wall, SD, Schatz was placed taking abandoned telephone poles down between Bottineau and Minot. During this time he was also seeing Gail Johnson of Watford City who was employed at an insurance firm in Bismarck. They met during a roller-skating party in New Salem.

Following their marriage on April 12, 1963, in Carson, ND, with many family and friends, Duane and Gail moved to Lake Preston, SD where Duane worked for the Lake Preston Times and weekly newspaper as a pressman and linotype operator. Gail was employed at the bank. Later that year they moved to Lemmon, SD and Duane was employed with the Lemon Leader and Gail with the JCPenney company.

In the spring of 1965, they moved to Elgin and became editors of the Grant County news. In 1974 they purchased the Carson Press, New Leipzig Sentinel, and Grant County News from Willard Ketterling. In 1975 they switched from hot metal to using computers to produce the newspapers. During this year, the Grant County News became the official newspaper for Grant County and has remained the official newspaper ever since.

God's handiwork in the outdoors brought lifelong enjoyment for Duane. He loved to sit on the hillside at the Haas Ranch hunting big Whitetail deer, grouse, pheasants, or fishing in the Cannonball River. He enjoyed the many years helping at the Haas Ranch south of Elgin seeding with the Versatile and air seeder. Fishing was also always a pleasure with his four grandchildren especially around the honey hole at Sheep Creek catching big Bluegills.

Duane is survived by Wife, Gail Schatz; daughter Mary Bauer, Minot, ND, and her children Jacob Bauer, Anna (Dawson Brekhus) Bauer, and Kayla Bauer; and two great-grandchildren Grace and Brixton; son Micheal (Kay) Schatz, Sioux Falls, SD, and their children Zachary Schatz and Grace Schatz; sister, Shirley Oschner; brother, Jim (Bernice) Schatz; sister-in-law, Karen Schatz; sister, Carol Rossow; sister, Patty (Jerry) Bohl; sister, Anna (Delbert) Himmelspach; and many nieces and nephews.

Duane is preceded in death by his parents Peter and Hilda Schatz; brother-in-law, Norman Oschner; brother Victor Schatz; and brother-in-law, Lloyd Rossow.