Dale Kunze
Dale P. Kunze, 80, Dazey, ND, passed away at Sanford on Broadway in Fargo, ND on January 6, 2023. Visitation will be at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, rural Dazey, on Friday, January 20, 2023, from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM, the prayer service will begin at 7:00. The funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, January 21 at 1:00 PM and he will be laid to rest in the St. Mary’s cemetery. The services will be live streamed, then archived, on a link provided along with his obituary on his tribute page at www. lerudmathias. com. An online guestbook is available there as well.
Dale Philip Kunze was born July 1, 1942, to Philip and Mary (Vondrachek) Kunze. He attended Sibley Trail school through 8th grade. His high school years were spent at St. Catherine’s Catholic School in Valley City, ND. He graduated in 1960. His senior year football season, the team was unbeaten and unscored upon! During one of the games, Dale earned the nickname “Ozark” after playing without a helmet.
He worked in road construction and with Industrial Builders building missile silos.
November 4, 1972, he married Cindy Everson, and they made their home on the Kunze family farm. They started their dairy operation in 1974. After retiring from the dairy part of farming in December of 1997, Dale enjoyed his daily tours of the neighbor’s feedlots. He continued other aspects of farming because those guys never really retire. He was named Sodbuster of the Year in 2012.
Dale made it to every sports game of his kids’ and enjoyed watching the Timberwolves,
Twins and Vikings. He played pinochle and whist and was known to play a hand or two of blackjack. He would go gambling, but “only $20 and done.”
He enjoyed the outdoors and going hunting and fishing. Dale loved to hear the stories from his sons of their successful outings and was known to pass those stories on and give out the secret spots even though they’d remind him each time to not tell.
Dale is survived by
his wife, Cindy; sons, Jeff (Brenda Everson), Travis (Anita), and Paul (Lisa); his grandchildren, Jerica, Jared, Levi, and Aubrey; his siblings, Mary Kay (Kenny) Willits, Reinhold (Sandy) Kunze, Jane (Rich) Plecity, Jean (Wayne) Welle, Sharon (Steve) Hilgers, and Monica Mohs; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents and his parents-inlaw, Dorothy and Robert Everson.