Duane Peightal

Duane Elton Peightal, 88, left for Heaven on May 9, 2019.  Funeral services are at 10:30 am on Saturday, May 18^th at McCabe United Methodist Church with Rev. Mark Ehrmantraut officiating. A visitation will be held at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Parkway, Bismarck, from 5:00-7:00 pm on Friday, May 17^th, followed by a Christian prayer service at 7:00 pm.  Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery in Bismarck.

Duane was born on December 7, 1930, to Elton and Emma (Kraft) Peightal at Dr. Agnes Stucke’s maternity home in Garrison, North Dakota. Coleharbor was the family home at the time. Duane started first grade in Coleharbor, but having been born in the depth of the “Great Depression” and terrible drought, the family started moving around the country in search of work after the farm crops failed.  By the seventh grade, Duane had attended eight different schools in addition to Coleharbor, including schools in Minot, Washburn, and Bismarck, N.D., as well as Seattle and Fortson, Washington.  This nomadic life had an influence later in life as decisions were made that involved the stability for the lives of his own children.  After his parents divorced during his 5th grade year, Duane and his sister, Shirley, were raised by a very hard working and determined mother.  

Duane graduated from Bismarck High School in the spring of 1948 as a member of the National Honor Society.  While consistently maintaining an after-school job since the seventh grade, he took time off his senior year to letter in track as a mile runner and to work in various capacities on the High Herald school newspaper.  He particularly enjoyed working as the school photographer.  On one of the last days of school, Dorothy Moses, Secretary to the Superintendent of Schools at the time, approached Duane with an offer to interview for a job with the Associated Press in Bismarck (Her brother, George Moses, was the AP Correspondent at the time).  Blessed to have secured the job, Duane worked full time for the AP and enrolled in Bismarck Junior College on a part time basis. This employment financed most of the remaining cost of Duane’s college education, for which he was always grateful to Dorothy and George Moses.  

In the fall of 1949, at a BJC “mixer” dance, Duane saw “a vision of beauty” walk across the dance floor and was immediately “smitten”.  On March 4, 1951, nursing student Lois Boe of Turtle Lake and Duane were married at St. Olaf Lutheran church, north of Turtle Lake.  The couple was blessed with four children, David, Stephen, Deanne and Tamara.  They were also blessed with eleven grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren, and 1 great, great grandchild.  

After three years with the AP and finishing his studies at BJC, Duane graduated with an Associate Degree in Engineering.  The couple then moved to Grand Forks in the fall of 1951 where Duane earned a Chemical Engineering degree at the University of North Dakota, graduating in the spring of 1953.  While in Grand Forks, he worked part time for the Grand Forks Herald newspaper, followed by a research project at the university related to the dehydration of mashed potatoes.  The couple then moved to Hammond, Indiana, a Chicago suburb, where Duane started working for Standard Oil Co. of Indiana at their Whiting, Indiana refinery.  In April 1954, they were transferred to Mandan, N.D. where a new Standard Oil Co. refinery was still under construction. He was the first Technical Service Engineer at this refinery and was soon promoted to various supervisory and management responsibilities.  

In 1959, Duane and Lois moved from Mandan to their “dream home” in Bismarck. This is the home where they raised their children, which later became the home their grandchildren and great grand children would come to visit. Duane lead his family on many camping trips, striving to visit every state west of the Mississippi. Highlights of those camping trips included visits to Crooked Lake and Heart Butte.

While Duane was a devoted father and cheerleader, Lois was most active with their daughters in their involvement in baton twirling competition on a local, state, and national level during their teen years.  They were always a great source of pride to him. He has stated countless times how thankful he was that they look like their mother!

During his adulthood, Duane was actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America for nearly 20 years. He initially assisted with the Cub Scouts in Mandan, followed by taking the role of a Patrol Dad, and later as the Scoutmaster for Troop 14 at the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Bismarck. Blessed with a superior troop committee, Troop 14 was a very active camping troop, which Duane thoroughly enjoyed. He took great joy in the opportunity to introduce his scouts to God’s beautiful landscape through primitive camping in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana. Both of Duane’s boys earned the rank of Eagle Scout, as did several others. Many members of Troop 14 became some of the finest professionals in Bismarck.  

It was Lois’s brothers who introduced Duane to the recreational wonders of hunting and fishing, which he truly enjoyed. He particularly enjoyed hunting with his sons and spent many a fall walking the badlands of North Dakota with David in search of mule deer.  Stephen treated him to an elk hunt in northern Colorado; unfortunately, most of the elk gathered on the Wyoming side of the state line.  

Duane retired from AMOCO on March 1, 1989.  He enjoyed staying in touch with many AMOCO friends after retirement. Duane and Lois enjoyed traveling internationally to England, Wales, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, The Gambia in Africa, Norway, and over 28 trips to Aruba.  

Baptized and confirmed at McCabe United Methodist Church in 1943, Duane grew into a deep faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  McCabe became his church home for most of the rest of his life, where over the years he served on several church committees, the administrative board, the “Men’s Club”, taught Sunday School at the elementary level, and ultimately lead an adult bible class.  

Duane was preceded in death by his parents, Elton and Emma; one grandson, Matthew Peightal (the first); his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Thomas and Florence Boe; brothers-in-law, LaVerne, Ivon, and Roger Boe; sisters-in-law, Ruby and Irene Boe; and one nephew, Marc Wicklund.  

He is survived by his wife, Lois; children, David and Ligia Peightal, Stephen and Kathie Peightal, Deanne and Rod Knutson, Tamara and Wally Jacobson; grandchildren, Benjamin and Eva Peightal, Angela and Jack Montgomery, Davin Peightal, Kolt and Tiffany Peightal, Tonja and Jon Beatch, Ashlee and Nathan Mashek, Marissa and Darryl Aldrich, Jordan and Megan Jacobson, Justin Jacobson, Sonja Jacobson; great grandchildren, Robert, Matthew (the second), Janessa and Kayla (twins), Jonah, Emma, and Sunday Peightal, Cariss, Jack Jr., and Eli Montgomery, River and Jade Peightal, Harper, Peyton, and Everett Beatch, Avery, Kellen, and Karson Mashek, Landon and Sadie Aldrich, Sydney and Nikola Jacobson; great, great grandchild, Eliza Peightal; his sister, Shirley Wicklund; aunt, Ruth Kraft; sister-in-law, Marjean Boe; and many cousins, nieces & nephews, grand nieces & nephews, and great grand nieces & nephews with whom he kept a close connection.

In honor of Duane’s strong Christian faith, it is requested that memorials are sent to the following organizations – Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ), The Open Door Community Center/McCabe United Methodist Church, or a charity of your choice.