Funeral services for Richard Euchner, 78, a long-time Storm Lake educator, will be held at 10:30 a.m. today, April 10, 2001, at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake, with Rev. Duane Queen officiating. Burial will be in the Storm Lake Cemetery. The Fratzke Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Mr. Euchner passed away Friday, April 6, 2001, at Buena Vista Regional Medical Center in Storm Lake of complications following surgery.

Richard Paul, the son of George Paul and Bess (Murphy) Euchner, was born December 1, 1922, in Waterloo. He graduated from Waterloo West High School in 1941. He then served in the United States Army in Europe during World War II.

Mr. Euchner graduated with a BA degree in business from Iowa State Teacher's College, now the University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls in 1949. He earned a master's degree in education administration from the University of Minnesota in 1953.

On November 23, 1950, he was united in marriage to Mary A. Garver in Fort Dodge. Mr. Euchner taught business at Denison High School and from 1953 until 1959 he was the high school principal at Manning. He moved to Storm Lake in 1959 and began a career as Storm Lake High School's principal that spanned nearly 30 years, retiring in 1988. Following his retirement, Mr. Euchner continued to help children with special needs in the Storm Lake area as a tutor.

Mr. Euchner was an active member of Lakeside Presbyterian Church where he was an elder and served on numerous committees. He was a member and past president of the Kiwanis Beavers as well as the Storm Lake Public Library board and the Gingerbread House board of directors.

He was a charter member of Educational Administrators of Iowa, who honored him as Principal of the Year in 1985. He was a member of the National Association of Secondary School Principals and a charter member of the School Administrators of Iowa.

In 1988, the Iowa High School Press Association named him Administrator of the Year for his outstanding leadership in support of journalism education and school publications.

Mr. Euchner was preceded in death by his parents; one sister Mary Jean and one brother, Robert.

He is survived by his wife Mary of Storm Lake; two daughters: Ann and her husband Kent Myles of Sylvania, Ohio and Ruth Ellen Euchner of Tacoma, Washington; one granddaughter; three brothers: James and his wife Marian Euchner of Cedar Falls, Russell and his wife Beverly Euchner of Cedar Falls and Charles and his wife Connie of Casa Grande, Arizona; one sister-in-law Ann Olmsted of East Lansing, Michigan; numerous nieces, nephews, extended family members and friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorials contributions may be made to Lakeside Presbyterian Church, Gingerbread House or to the Storm Lake Public Library Foundation.

Mr. Euchner was born in Waterloo, Iowa, about 32 years ago, and he attended school there. His first marked achievement (an indication of future success?) was a marble championship while he was in grade school.

Mr. Euchner participated in basketball, football, and track while in high school. Quite a lot of his leisure time was spent in taking charge of an intermediate physical education program which was set up by the Waterloo recreation committee.

Incidentally, Mr. Euchner acquired a nickname during these years, but I'm afraid it will never be known, because he won't disclose his secret.

With the intention of going into coaching, Mr. Euchner attended Iowa State Teacher's College at Cedar Falls for two quarters before he went into the army. While he was in the service, he spent six months at the University of Wyoming. Approximately three years were spent in the European countries of France, England, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. Mr. Euchner spent one of the most enjoyable periods of his life at the beautiful city of Salzburg, Austria, where he stayed six months.

After his discharge from the Army in 1946, he re-entered ISTC. Because of an injury he sustained while in service, he decided to transfer his interest in coaching to business education, which was his major.

He was an officer of PI Omega PI, honorary fraternity for business education majors. He was also quite active in vocal music while in college.

After graduation from Cedar Falls in 1949, Mr. Euchner taught at Denison for two years. Then he spent another two years in Minneapolis, one year working and one year attending the University Minnesota. He commented that with a little luck, he and his wife will make Minneapolis their home some day, partly because of the attractiveness of the city, and partly because Minneapolis offers much in the way of athletics, concerts, singe productions, etc.

Mr. Euchner came to Manning four years ago as principal of the high school. Besides this strenuous job, he also teaches bookkeeping.

Mr. Euchner, who is 6'3", black-haired, and brown-eyed. He is working on his thesis and plans to get his master's degree next summer. After obtaining his M.A. degree, he plans to pursue a long-neglected hobby of his - golf.

His present hobby is photography. He especially enjoys taking colored pictures with his 35mm camera. Another enjoyable pastime of Mr. Euchner is reading. He also tikes to travel and has seen at least two-thirds of the 48 states.

When I asked him if he had a pet peeve, he obliged by listing three; first, people who are not punctual; second, people who gossip; and third, high school students who do not dress properly for the occasion. From personal experience, I might add that Mr. Euchner also dislikes the phrase PT.

His secret ambition was to be a musician - possibly even a professional one. The closest he came to achieving this goal was his ownership of a clarinet for about three weeks.

In summing up his career, Mr. Euchner said, "I'm in the education field because I enjoy the work and I enjoy working with young people. It's really a challenge to keep two steps ahead of these modern-day youngsters.
By Cleo Weller