Richard “Dick” Aulich was born on 24 November 1931 to Moneta (Taylor) and John Aulich in St. Paul, MN, and grew up with his grandparents Walter (Framp) and Alice Taylor. Dick spent most of his first 46 years in South St.
Paul, his second 23 in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and most of his last 24 on Kabekona Lake near Walker MN.
In 3rd grade during recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, Dick stepped aside when the girl standing in front of him fainted and she collapsed on the floor. Afew years later Dick tried to get a date with that girl but was spurned. After high school Dick signed up for the Marines and left town.
When hecame back to SSP and saw that girl—Joan Heubner—walking across the street he honked at her.
They married a few months later in May 1955.
Dick joined the SSP fire department and served over 20 years as firefighter, fire marshal, and captain.
He also established a credit union, represented the fire and police departments in wage negotiations with the city council, and sometimes let a few kids play on the fire trucks. In 1978 Dick signed on as Fire Chief for the city of Grand Forks and led the department for 22 years. During the Great Flood of 1997 he stayed with his firefighters in the Demers Avenue Fire Station for two weeks, sleeping on a cot in his office. They stayed busy. Many people around the U.S. may remember watching live video of downtown Grand Forks burning and pumper trucks (mounted on high trailers towed by heavy-duty Air Force trucks) pulling water out of the flood and shooting it into the flames.
Dick showed his children how to live.
He was calm, patient, knew how to listen, worked and played hard, relaxed well, was rarely disrespectful, and slow enough to anger that some people thought he never got mad.
They were mostly right. Dick designed and built three homes: First on Lake 26 in Burnett County, Wisconsin, next his dream house on Lake Kabekona where he and Joan retired, then daughter Beth’s home on the Mississippi River north of Brainerd.
He fixed up old beat-up lake cabins from Danbury, WS to Park Rapids, MN, played tennis and repaired vehicles damaged by his kids, ate pizza and drank beer, cleaned fish and patched bike tires, took in stray dogs (one ofwhich bit him when he picked Joan up and hauled her kicking and screaming into Big Bear Lake), taught 10th grade Sunday school for a year (after which he decided to focus on firefighting), and was almost always happy. Dick died on 2 January 2025.
Survivors include daughter Beth (Rob) Larson of Brainerd; son Ted (Laurel) Aulich of Grand Forks; son-in-law Ray Pikarski of Hatton ND; grandchildren (Adam, Aaron, Laura, Joanna, Brendan, and John); greatgrandchildren (Brynn, Elsie, Vaida and Aubrey); sister Melissa Wolf; many nieces and nephews; and two cousins. Greeting Dick in Heaven are his beloved wife Joan and daughters Amy and Annie who passed away in 2019 and 1963.
Thank you to May Creek Edgewood Vista, Hope Lutheran Church of Walker, and St. Joseph’s Hospice for your compassionate care.
Services will be held on Tuesday, 2.18.25 at Hope Lutheran Church at 11:00 AM, with visitation at 10:00 AM, and will be followed by lunch. Pastors officiating will be Pastor Matthew McWaters and Pastor David Smith.
Arrangements by Northern Peace of Walker MN.