DUAINE SLOAN obituary

Duaine Raymond Sloan, 66 of Havre, died Monday, Aug. 1, 2005, in Arlington, Va., while enjoying vacation with his family.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at First Lutheran Church, with military honors to

be held outside the church. A fellowship luncheon will follow in the First Lutheran Fellowship Hall. Burial will be held Monday at 4 p.m. in Chester.

Duaine was born March 17, 1939, in Minot, N.D., to Lyndon and Lulu (Schwede) Sloan. He grew up on the farm near Coulee, N.D., where he was baptized and confirmed at St. Luke's Church. He graduated from Palermo High School, where he played basketball, beginning a lifelong love of sports. Starting at age 15, he worked for his uncle, Forest Schwede, in Chester during the summers, and did custom cutting.

He attended Minot State College before enlisting in the Air Force in 1961. He was in the service for four years and spent much of that time in France. In 1967, he was recruited by Keith Clawson to computerize the payroll, grades and other administrative tasks at Northern Montana College. He spent many days writing computer programs and long nights running them on Vita Rich Dairy's computer before NMC had its own. He was very proud he never missed a payroll in 32 years. He was a strong supporter of Northern athletics and computerized the sports statistics many years ago.

He was the first one in his family to graduate from college and received a bachelor's degree in history and secondary education from Northern Montana College in 1976.

He married Karen Colleen Scalese on June 30, 1968, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Galata. They began a relationship of caring for each other and others, and were very actively involved in their community.

Dewey played and coached softball and was involved in building the first softball complex south of Havre, drilling the first well and building the fence. Karen used to pray he would get too old to play ball and then he started to umpire. He also coached youth bowling and was the secretary of his bowling league for many years.

He was an active member of First Lutheran Church, serving as deacon for many years and was currently serving as the recording financial secretary. He made lifelong friends when he was a Havre Jaycee and involved in Optimists. He was a cheerleader for his son's football, choir and theater involvement and his daughter's music, speech and Key Club involvement. He was his wife's strongest supporter and always encouraged her and made it possible for her to continue her education.

After his retirement, he began his second career as a checker at Gary & Leo's IGA. He spoke frequently about how important and supportive his coworkers became and how much their encouragement meant through his last year of illness. He enjoyed playing cards and his friends at the "office" who played pan have also given him much encouragement in the last year.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Survivors include his wife, Karen Sloan of Havre; son, Michael Sloan of Havre; daughter, K'Lynn Sloan of Arlington, Va.; brother, Curt (Mary) Sloan of Fort Benton; sister, Linda (Tom) Ward of Clayton, N.C.; father- and mother-in-law, Hales and Ambjorg Scalese of Galata; brothers-in-law, Sonny (Karen) Scalese of Sunburst and Steve (Diane) Scalese of Chester; great-aunt, Valda Schwede of Minot, N.D.; and several cousins, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

Memorials may be made to First Lutheran Church or to Havre Junior Bowling.

Services and arrangements have been entrusted to Holland & Bonine Funeral Home.