Richard Neil Folz

Mar 29, 1945 -

Nov 23, 2021

Richard N. Folz arrived in this world on March 29, 1945, and left it too soon, on Nov. 23, 2021. He was the fourth child born to Clara (nee Maug) and Joseph Folz, spending his childhood, along with three older brothers and a sister, in the small town of Tomahawk, Wis.

Early in life, he was introduced to hunting and fishing and learned to be comfortable with firearms. He was allowed more freedom the more he demonstrated that he could handle the responsibility. He credited this experience as having a profound influence on the rest of his life, since it taught him that self-confidence is earned from long practice in one's craft and learning to think on one's feet. This in turn, provided the foundation for him to make a living and a life at the intersection of commerce and the natural world.

Artistic throughout high school, his plan was to graduate from Tomahawk High, then go on to drafting school. However, he chose the Navy over drafting school, following his older brother's footsteps. And Duke, as he is known to family and friends, was honorably discharged from the Navy four years later. Then once again he followed his brother's lead, this time to Fairbanks, Alaska, to work construction jobs.

Alaska was a wild and beautiful place, and he was captured by it. The deal was sealed when he met the woman with whom he would share the rest of his life, Bonnie. He didn't have to date her for long before he knew that in her company he was truly home. They married in December 1972, in Calgary, Alberta. He would always remember that she could jumpstart a car at 35 below and laugh about it later. For 50 years, they made a life, first surviving and then finding ways to laugh at life's absurdities.

Duke worked at Frontier Sporting Goods in Fairbanks when he was offered a transfer to their Anchorage store. The family, which now included their son Mac, born in 1974, packed their bags and moved south. They were soon living in the Turnagain home where they would spend the next 45 years. In 1981, he accepted a position selling recreational and outdoor equipment for V.F Grace, from where he retired in 2016, after 35 years in their employ.

He was a man who spoke clearly and with intention. When he told people that he liked going to work, they knew that he meant every word. His customers became his friends because they were also his repeat customers. They came back, not only for the quality of the product lines, but for the quality of his follow-through and product knowledge, ever the consummate professional in his work.

He knew the value of the outdoors that woods and water are their own therapies, and the sound of a crackling fire its own music. He took his young family camping and backpacking often in their early years, explaining the mysteries of species, such as the barking spider, to his young son.

From the moment Mac was born, Duke stepped into the role of father as one dons a coat tailor-made for him. He never missed a hockey or a soccer game. He drove carloads of boys and all their attendant gear to practices and for the occasional surprise pizza on the way home. At every opportunity, he used events in his child's life to underscore what mattered: be honest, be kind, have boundaries, work hard but play hard too. To know Mac is to know that the message was well-received.

He knew how to train a dog to obey commands and how to train his eye on a pistol shooting target. Over the years of owning, selling and firing a variety of firearms, he earned a reputation as an expert. He competed successfully at State silhouette shooting championships, winning several in a row. Wryly appreciative of his tag name Dead Eye Dick, in 1982, he claimed first place in an international shooting competition and then he decided it was time to drop that mic and move on.

And so it was that he found a sweet hideaway and refuge in a cabin on Sara Lake. For over 30 years it became his low-tech sanity restoration system. And for the loon couple who came back to show off their babies to him every spring, it was the start of a mutual admiration society, although the loons admittedly were baffled by what purpose was served in his catch and release fishing from his floating dock.

As he and Bonnie had the time to travel, they made several trips to explore the eastern seaboard. They took a river cruise through parts of Europe and a Panama Canal cruise, where he realized a lifelong dream.

He was a Packer Backer of the first order. If you weren't rooting for Green Bay it was best not to say so in his company or he was apt to claim not to have heard you correctly due to his "selective hearing" problem.

He would be honored if you remembered him as someone who never met a person he didn't want to like, never met a dog he didn't want to scratch behind the ears and never met a dessert that didn't want to have seconds.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Joe and Clara; brothers, Joe, LeRoy and Bob.

He is survived by Bonnie, Mac and Paula; his sister, Nola; and too many friends to list.

When it gets warm Dukes' ashes will be scattered at Sara Lake and glasses lifted to his life and to his memory.