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Scott E. Rausch Piedmont, SD QCWA # 31295 Chapter 102 |
Scott E. Rausch
January 03, 1953 - April 02, 2022
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Let us remember with thanksgiving what God has done through his servant Scott Rausch.
Scott E. Rausch, son of Jesse and Dorothy Rausch, was born in Pierre, SD, on January 3, 1953, he was baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost on May 10, 1953. He confessed his baptismal faith through confirmation on April 23, 1967 and was admitted to the altar to receive the medicine of immortality, Christ's life-giving body and blood. Scott was joined together in holy matrimony to Linda Ganske on December 27, 1975. On April 2, 2022, Scott, at the age of 69 years, fell asleep in Jesus. He is survived by his wife, Linda, his mother, Dorothy, and his sister, Jody and many loving cousins, nieces and nephews and friends. He was predeceased by his father, Jesse, and his maternal and paternal grandparents.
Scott was raised on the family farm in Potter County close to many cousins. They all attended Artichoke elementary which they rode their motorcycles to even though they were a little young. They honored their country and state through the Young Citizens League. Scott learned piano and continued to play and sing the state song. Scott received his Amateur Radio License with his dad and has remained a lifelong ham radio operator. He put up antennas in many places, some allowed by the HOA. He graduated from Gettysburg High School in 1971.
Scott attended South Dakota School of Mines, graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1975. Scott was active on campus. Scott was a member of Theta Tau fraternity. Scott served as senior class president at Mines as well as president of many other organizations. He joked that when they held the meeting for student group presidents, he wanted to be the only one there, but still have perfect attendance. He was in ROTC and later commissioned as a lieutenant in the US Army. He married Linda 6 months later.
Scott did his basic training at Ft. Lewis in Washington State. He said it rained all the time. He served three months in the Corps of Engineers at Ft. Belvoir in Arlington, VA. He served the rest of his time in the reserves. He went away two weeks every summer. He couldn't tell me where or what they were doing, but the government sent a check, so I think it was legitimate. He achieved the top rank of major.
After college, Scott and Linda worked for Union Carbide. Together they installed the first digitally controlled operation in the Cellosize Unit. Scott was the project manager for the controls installation and start up. Linda was the production manager. After two years, they moved to Iowa, where Scott worked for Rockwell Collins. At first, he worked on CAPS, a computer design. He then went into the Avionics field, starting in control systems for business aircraft. This involved world travel to all of the business aircraft manufacturers. He went on a few test flights but thought he would like to spend more time on the ground. At this point got licensed as a pilot and became the impoverished owner of a Grumman Tiger. After three or four engine failures and landing without power, Scott gave up his license.
After nine Years at Rockwell, Scott moved on to other Avionics companies, including, Sperry, Honeywell, Loral, etc. He was proud to be the project leader for Honeywell installing the complete Avionics system in the Boeing 777. After projects were complete, Scott was usually offered a job at the company that got the next big contract. He worked in Phoenix, Cedar Rapids, Atlanta, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Kansas City. Sometimes Linda was in the same city, but sometimes not. This made for many weekend trips to unusual midway points for visits, not always a tourist destination, but we saw a lot of the USA.
Tired of moving all the time, Scott and Linda retired and returned to their beloved Black Hills in 2001. They built a house on land which they had purchased in 1992. Being newly back in the community, Scott knew he had to get involved to meet people and boy did he ever get involved. First was being treasurer at Divine Shepherd Lutheran. Then he volunteered to remodel the old fire house in Piedmont to house their first library. Scott loved books and became very involved with the South Dakota Book Festival. This led to two gubernatorial appointments to The South Dakota Humanities Council. He served as treasurer there as well teaching the liberal bookies the reality of paying for things. Scott was also a Board Member of the Rapid City Arts Council and Dahl Fine Arts.
About 2007, Dr. Larry Simonsen, asked Scott to help out at the School of Mines teaching a course or two. This was attractive to Scott. He taught most of the general EE courses. After the Power System professor left, Scott became the Power Guy teaching all of the power classes. This led to many power plant visits and stops on the highway to look at transmission lines. Eventually, the EE Department Head left and Scott became the Acting Department Head for several years. He was probably the only University Department Head ever who only had a bachelor's degree. According to Dr. Simonsen, Scott was the best department head ever. At the time of his death, Scott was teaching the second semester of the new Avionics Minor offered for the first time. Dr. Rankin, SDSM&T President and fellow avionics guys and fraternity brothers were helpful in establishing this course of study. In 2017, Scott received the Ennenga Award for Excellence in Teaching and in 2018, Scott was awarded the University's highest honor for alumni, the March Medal. He was a tireless mentor for the students and a highly respected colleague.
Scott was a life-long ham radio operator and still called the SD net on Saturday nights and Sunday Mornings. This did impact my social life. He, his father, and sister were all members of the Quarter Century Wireless Association for folks who have been hams for more than 25 years. He was a member and past president of the Black Hills Amateur Radio Club. When people were stressed or bored, Scott would say they should work to increase their code speed. This silent key will be missed. Over the years, Scott was active in the Lions, Optimist and Toastmasters clubs. Scott earned his black belt in Taekwondo.
Scott loved animals and was a dedicated caretaker for Linda's horses. He saved turtles crossing the road and threw out grain for the turkeys and deer. He loved dogs, but we were always too busy to have one. We were honored to pet - sit several of our friends' dogs. He didn't really like cats, but one day he saved a kitten who was lost by our barn. We had Barney for about 3 months before we found him a good home. Scott was teaching Sunday School and his class was doing a lesson on God and the animals. Scott became a vegetarian after that lesson.
Scott loved books. He built a very large library at home. Most of them were carried up-stairs one at a time, but when we moved in it was 90 book boxes at a time. The only non-fiction allowed had to be a classic. Many books on philosophy, religion, theology, science and engineering.
Scott loved his family and friends and was there for them always.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away: blessed be the name of the Lord. We give thanks to God our Father through Christ Jesus, our Lord, for our brother Scott Rausch.
Visitation will be from 5:00-7:00 p.m. with at 6:00 p.m. prayer service on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at Osheim Schmidt Funeral Home.
Funeral Services will be at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 8. 2022 at Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Black Hawk.
Interment will be at the at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, April 11, 2022, at the Gettysburg Cemetery.
Memorials have been established to the Scott&Linda Ganske Rausch Scholarship at the SDSM and T. You can mail your donation to SD Mines CARA.