Duane "Farmer" Bartos

Duane, far right

One of the Big Boys we looked up to in our one-room Country School was Duane Bartos. Barnyard strong, intelligent, boisterous and possibly teacher's pet, he sat in the row of big desks on the other side of the room in a plaid flannel shirt and was too much older for a second-grader to get to know. But he was kind, and never to be feared.

You can look up a memory or two of Duane on this blog if you put his name in the search box above. Duane died yesterday, his sister Lorlee is our age and our pal, and she let us know about it. Today she sent along this obituary, which is a much better read than most and worthy of this good man.

Duane John Bartos, 72, of Roberts, WI passed away unexpectedly, despite his battle with cancer, on April 7, 2016.


Duane grew up on the family farm, with his rambunctious siblings, in Alexandria, MN and attended the University of Minnesota. In 1969, he married Barb Amdahl and they eventually moved to Roberts to start raising their family. Duane continued to work in the Cities as a mechanic. He was a twenty-four year member of the National Guards and proud to be so. He served as cook and enjoyed all the hassle that went with it, although he probably gave as much as he got. In his later years, he started doing the major cooking at home and could really make killer good gravy, chili, anything that he could experiment with his own seasonings. Unfortunately it was after the kids had all left home so they missed out on most of it, except for left-overs. He loved watching football, wrestling, and DWTS on TV, but he was an even bigger reader. He always had a book in the car in case he had time to kill. Depending on the season, he looked forward to going to the races or playing cards. His other big love was gardening and cutting wood, he was happy when he was working outside. This last summer he lost the "corn in the garden" battle with the squirrels but was planning how to outsmart them this year. Duane also really enjoyed his travels to foreign countries and their rich, diverse histories.

Duane is survived by his loving family: wife Barb, children Bart (Tim) wife Julianne, Tamara husband Kent, and Chris, and the most special people in the world to him, his granddaughters Kaitlyn and Mackenzie. Also survived by the aforementioned rambunctious siblings: LuAnn Schrader, Lorlee Bartos, MaryJo Bartos, and Stephen (Doreen) Bartos. Duane was preceded in death by his parents John and Clara Bartos and brother-in-law Dick Schrader.

Duane, we love you and we will always miss you, but no, you can not have the remote.

A Memorial service will be 12pm (noon) Wednesday April 13th at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home; 520 So. 11th Street in Hudson. Private interment with full military honors provided by the New Richmond American Legion Post will be in the Warren Cemetery in Roberts. Visitation will be on Tuesday from 5 until 8pm at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home of Hudson as well as one hour prior to the service at O'Connell's Wednesday morning.