Richard A. “Dick” Bahr
Richard A. “Dick” Bahr, 73, of Fond du Lac, died Saturday, March 1, 2014, at home, of peritoneal carcinomatosis, a type of abdominal cancer.
He was born on December 10, 1940, in Sturgeon Bay, a son of Arno H. and Antoinette W. DeMers Bahr.
Dick was a graduate of Crandon High School, Class of 1959. He attended M.S.O.E., U.W.Wausau, and U.W. Oshkosh.
Following graduation, he was employed in his father’s business, selling appliances and L.P. gas. He went on to work for Ski-Doo as a distributor and was involved in sales and service in the midwest, for Halverson Equipment, Duluth, Minnesota, as well as owning and operating a dealership in Crandon. He later joined Polaris Snowmobiles in Roseau, Minnesota, where he was involved in research and development of snowmobile engines. He moved to Fond du Lac in 1975, employed again in R& D at Mercury Marine until 1977. He then went to work for Bombardier Corporation in Valcartier, Quebec, traveling to Austria to work on the modification and development of Rotax engines. He was also the Bombardier Race Team manager. In 1981, he joined the John Deere Corporation, engineering snowmobiles and later lawn and garden machines. He also did technical writing for John Deere’s service manuals. During the 1980’s, Dick became a co-owner of Hayes Bahr Inc., together with Stan, Doug and Gene Hayes, producing modified snowmobile exhaust systems. He retired in 2002 from John Deere Corporation. He then started his own computer consulting business, L.A.D. (Life after Deere), retiring in 2012.
On June 12, 1981, he married June Ann Ollerman.
Dick was a member of Immanuel-Trinity Lutheran Church, and the Home Communion Team.
He taught himself to play a guitar and made his own banjo. Puff the Magic Dragon was one of his favorite songs he liked to sing, Peter, Paul and Mary were among his favorites, as well as country western music.
Most of June’s LPN friends knew and loved Dick, as they attended many LPN conventions together.
Broken Cinch Saddle Club presented Dick with the PA Schmitz’s presidential award for service. At horse shows, he could be found holding a horse and doing a crossword puzzle.
He loved open wheel racing, Indy cars and F1 cars, both much warmer than snowmobile racing. He loved to travel to races, but to Elkhart Lake was a favorite.
Their anniversary trip to Alaska was one of their most memorable trips as well as the one to the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxenberg, and to Alberta, Canada to visit family.
He attended many hockey, soccer, baseball, and basketball games, and horse shows of his grandsons, nieces and nephews.
After purchasing a 5th wheel trailer, Dick would be found at the campsite, reclining in his anti-gravity chair, watching the dogs, listening to music, and reading or doing crossword puzzles. Known for his jokes that were “groaners”, his family limited his Bahr humor to Monday’s, thus the “Monday jokes”. He was an artist, using different mediums, he was dependable and great at organization. He could fix most everything, and was the go to man with problems or situations, and could always figure something out. Lastly, he was thankful and happy for those friends and coworkers who were able to visit or call. He was glad he had a chance to say thank you and I love you to his family.
Herb Rosio’s family was close to Dick, including nieces and nephews, as well as the Hayes family, who were a big part of his life.
He is survived by his wife, June; a daughter, Melissa Bahr of Oshkosh; three grandchildren: Ethan Stuart, Zachary and Tyler Beaver; a sister, Ann Valdes of Roanoke Rapids, N.C.; two nephews: James Valdes and Cody Fisher; six nieces: Barbara, Diane, and Donna Valdes, JoAnne Moore, Kaylie and Chloe Fisher; great nieces and great nephews; a sister-in-law: Joy (Stephen) Fisher of Plymouth; a son-in-law, Andrew Beaver; special friends, Herb and Tina Rosio of Crandon; Vinnie his dog and Palmer his cat.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a daughter, Shelly Beaver; and a brother-in-law, Kenny Valdes.
The funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, 2014, at Immanuel-Trinity Lutheran Church, 20 Wisconsin American Drive, Fond du Lac, with Rev. Rick Engen officiating.
The visitation will be from 4-8pm on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, at Mach Funeral Chapel & Crematory, 31 East Division Street, Fond du Lac, and on Thursday at church from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service.
Memorials may be directed to Immanuel-Trinity Lutheran Church Organ Restoration Fund.
Mach Funeral Chapel & Crematory is serving the family, www.machfuneralchapel.com.