Evans Funeral Home
"Compassionate Funeral Service"
Carrington and New Rockford, North Dakota
701.652.3003 or 701.947.2911
Secondary Number ~ 701.650.9937
Douglas Schaefer
Douglas Jerome Schaefer, 59, died August 9, 2023 in New Rockford, N.D. Doug died a natural death, without seeking medical intervention, in accordance with deeply held beliefs he formed based on his many years working in nature.
Doug was born April 7, 1964 in New Rockford to James and Darlene (Kruger) Schaefer. He graduated from New Rockford High School in 1982, from Princeton University in 1986 (BA in Economics/Economic History), and from Northwestern University in 1989 (MA in Economics). After college graduation, Doug married Emily Schuette; although they later divorced, they remained friends.
Doug was a kind and gentle soul. He had wide-ranging interests; a searching intelligence; and a deep, abiding love of nature and all living things. Doug was a tireless traveler, a voracious reader, and possessed an understated, unassuming but unquenchable curiosity and thirst for knowledge. After his high school years as a multi-sport athlete, Doug was a member of his college track and field team, and remained passionate about golf and tennis throughout his life. Doug lived a simple life, largely indifferent to material things, and was at his happiest being in nature, whether on casual “birding” excursions or during his ornithological research on four continents as a field biologist.
Doug’s intellectual interests initially led to studies in economics and business administration. After graduating from Princeton, Doug studied in an MBA program at the University of Texas, Austin, before moving on to his graduate studies at Northwestern. Between 1989 and 1995, Doug worked in Houston, Texas and for an NGO, based out of Washington, D.C.
Seeking different challenges and looking to serve, Doug joined the Peace Corps in 1996. Doug’s two and a half years as a Peace Corps volunteer working in conservation in Guatemala sparked new interests in conservation, evolutionary biology, and birds. Between 1998 and 2005, Doug worked as a field biologist, studying birds in the Central Coast of California (Monterey County), Alaska, Kentucky, Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, and Northwestern Australia. Although his earlier post-secondary studies were in economics, not the biological sciences, Doug was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation grant, which led to doctoral studies, between 2005 and 2011, in evolutionary biology and ornithology at the University of California, Berkeley, the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, and the University of Kentucky. His NSF grant also funded his field research in South Africa for nine-month stints for three consecutive years during the later 00s while he was engaged in his doctoral studies at the Australian National University.
Unfortunately, the years of rigorous work as a field biologist conducting solitary research in wild, undeveloped nature preserves, forests, and savannahs around the globe exacted a physical toll. Doug spent his final years working various jobs at golf courses and in manufacturing, banking, and retail as well as providing care and support to family members.
Doug is survived by his mother, Darlene Daugherty, New Rockford; four siblings – Greg (Teresa Erickson) Schaefer, Minneapolis, MN; Brad (Leslie) Schaefer, Grand Junction, CO; Monty (Tori) Schaefer, New Rockford; and Susan (Tim) Hanson, Fargo, ND; and seven nieces and nephews and their extended families. He was preceded in death by his father, James William Schaefer, two stepfathers (Tollef Skaar and Elder Daugherty), and a sister, Joan Schaefer.
Doug will be missed, but his family and friends celebrate with the comfort that Doug’s spirit can now soar with the birds he so loved and studied and that his earthly pain and environmental despair are over.
No memorial services are planned. Donations preferred to bird/wildlife or environmental 501(c)(3) organizations.
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So sorry
I can not express the sadness I feel about Doug’s passing. May his memory be a comfort to Darlene and his family.
Rest in peace Doug.
I would like to offer sincere condolences to all members of Doug’s family in the loss of their son, brother, brother-in-law, and uncle. I have always deeply respected all family members. It is important that Doug’s unique and inspirational story/message be shared. A remarkable life journey!
This is very sad to hear. Tight hugs to Doug’s family.
We will forever miss him as we do Joan and Jim as well as Tolley and Elder. Our heart is broken to lose another from our close family friend. love you all, Leonard, Lois, Justin Kathy and Keith and our families.
My deepest condolences. So sorry to hear this. Doug was a year behind me in high school and I know that he was an amazing person. I had no idea about his studies and amazing work around the globe. This is such a well written obituary – thank you for sharing Doug’s story. My thoughts and prayers are with the Schaefer family. God bless Doug and the rest of the Schaefer family.
I’m so sorry, Aunt Darlene and family are truly in my thoughts and prayers
Darlene and family, our thoughts and prayers are with all of you. Peace and love from all of us.
So sorry to hear of Doug’s demise but happy his pain on earth has ended. Thoughts and prayers to Aunt Darlene and family. Know you are loved
We are again reminded of our mortality. Doug will certainly be missed. My high school years were enrichened by the association with Doug, in some respects we were intellectual competitors and this was a source of strength and happiness. Doug demonstrated exceptional athletic ability in every endeavor; wonderfully so. Over the years it was hoped that we would get an instance to visit again perhaps to compare such different journeys through life. The good memories of Doug reinforce our desire to maintain contact with others in our lives. We send condolences to all of his family and friends. C. Ripp.
So sorry for the loss
Doug lived a life he imagined then dove into head first. Thanks for the wonderful obituary recapping a life well lived. May Doug’s memory be a blessing to all who knew him and loved him. Hike on Doug! Travel well as you wander on.
Dear Darlene and family, I am so very sorry to hear about your great loss. Doug achieved so much on his short time on this earth. Prayers for comfort and peace. Love, Diane Ullrich Espy
Thank you all for your words and kindness. I’m remembering the brother who asked students to put their books and papers on the floor in front of their lockers when administration in high school said we couldnt return to lockers between classes due to too much noise.
Quiet rebellion or unanticipated chaos with the scattering of papers first by accident, but later on, who knows, gosh think we got to use our lockers the next day cuz the mess was worse than the noise. He gained Hero status that day!
He would tell me he was quarterback because he was tall. He said his longest throw that Joel caught and ran in for a touch down was meant for another player, it was a fluke, a unintended pass.
He would read the encyclopedia and follow the rule book of the every single game, mortgaging the houses down to the last cent (that might have been over learned from Greg and Brad) but fairness mattered, sportsmanship was honored, and quiet was appreciated.
Watching that 6’2″ frame lunging down to touch those court lines with the crusher and 17 drills at the end of the boys basketball practice was hard for Joan and me. It didnt seem fair! Then, when they had to do it a second time in under a minute cuz the entire team hadn’t managed to traverse the width of the court the first time fast enough… awful to watch, but he never complained about it on the ride back to the farm.
Ok, so maybe he didnt love carting 2 chatty sisters around all the time and their friends, (he asked me once if I was afraid of silence when he turned off the radio for the 15 minute ride into town) but he did it out of duty and likely from example of his 3 older brothers. We never got left behind or booted out of the car.
He didnt miss a chance to remind me not to finish a sentance with a preposition, my apologies here if I do.
I thank you all for adding to his life. For making him think, for tolerating his formality, for supporting all of us through that terrible spring of 1982, for waving back to him on the road (somedays he counted), and helping him with work projects more recently.
We all make a difference in this world! Contribution is not just taxes paid. I am so sad, but also so proud my brother came home and I could tell him I’m sorry I cant take the pain away and it wasnt fair all the things he dealt with (oops I might have done that one on purpose).
I was lucky to thank him for caring for my sister and mother with such grace the night before he died. He let me play his David Bowie CD, and we talked for an hour before I made him a grilled cheese sandwhich. He said no to a ride to the clinic, to calling an ambulance, and no to pain control.
Not enough time, not enough hugs, but one more time to put it out there-thank you Doug, I love you!
So hard for me to believe that you are gone Doug. I remember all the times of babysitting your lovely family. You worked very hard at keeping up to the older brothers. And you did a good job of it. May you rest in peace and may your mom and siblings come together and share in the great things you did in this world. I’m sure there are plenty of wonderful stories of joy to share. Blessings to all.
Love,
Bernadette
Darlene and family, my sincere condolences to you and your family. Doug led the life he loved, and accomplished so many great things. Hold on to your memories.
So sorry to hear about Doug. Thanks for sharing his life’s journey. I didn’t know he was a world traveler. Praying for all of his family.
Darlene, James & I are so sorry for your loss. What a wonderful life he had and I’m sure fond memories for all of you. Prayers
Sending prayers to Darlene and her family.
Darlene, so sorry for your loss. May God hold you in the palm of his hand
Thanks to all for contributing your memories of Doug as well as your condolences to Mom and our family.
I write to supplement Doug’s story a bit (one can only write so much in an obit for publication in papers).
In addition to being a kind and gentle soul, Doug was too humble (if that is possible), and always minimized his exceptional intelligence, innate curiosity, broad interests, and athletic abilities. While in elementary school, Doug started working his way through the World Book Encyclopedia, starting from page 1. Although I don’t believe he made it all the way through — Mom, Brad, Monty, or Sue can weigh in and correct me — he made it much deeper into that project, reading every single entry on every page well into the alphabet, than anyone else I’ve ever known could muster. Doug had exhausted all the course offerings at NRHS half way through his senior year and started taking courses at NDSU in the Spring of ’82, many years before high school students started doing such things in recent decades. Doug’s intelligence and academic achievements are evidenced by his studies at leading universities like Princeton, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and the Australian National University. (I doubt the alumni rolls at universities like Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and UChicago include many farm kids hailing from North Dakota [I crafted that specifically to limit it to North Dakota farm kids so Uncle Del wouldn’t have to weigh in to note that this family itself includes at least two members in the alumni rolls at those institutions!].) The breadth of Doug’s academic and intellectual interests led him not only to engage in MBA studies but also to toy with the idea of entering medical school. Grandma Kruger and Mom enjoy(ed) and play a mean game of Scrabble, but Doug (and Emily) were national class Scrabble players; it was remarkable how many bingos they managed to play in a game, all the legal two- and three-letter words, not to mention every single word in the English dictionary with “q,” they knew, their facility at hitting the triple word squares on the perimeter of the board, not to mention making plays that created multiple words, and the speed at which they accomplished all of this.
Doug was also an excellent, well-rounded athlete. With apologies to Wilt Chamberlain’s efforts in Hershey, PA on March 2, 1962, the two most dominant single-game basketball performances of which I’m aware are Bill Walton’s in the NCAA championship game against Memphis State in March 1973 and Doug’s in a game by New Rockford’s 7th grade team in Fessenden, in which, if memory serves, Doug scored something like 25 of NR’s 26 points and was as dominant on both ends of the floor (rebounding and defensively) as Chamberlain and Walton in their two legendary games. With tutoring — and I’m sure countless losses to her on the courts! — from Emily (who was a star on the Princeton women’s tennis team from 1982-1986 and was still winning national women’s double championships with her mother in recent decades), Doug became an able tennis player. He also loved golf, although unfortunately we were never able to put together a trip in which Doug and Monty could play a couple rounds at St. Andrews.
Doug truly was utterly indifferent to material things, and lived his life bereft of the many material comforts most middle and (not to mention wealthy) Americans expect. Since his service in the Peace Corps, Doug was always able to fit all of his belongings in his car during his ceaseless travels over the past three decades. Mom tells the story how Doug, after cashing Mom’s birthday checks to him over the years, invariably would stop by a neighboring grocery store, giving away the cash to a young mother appearing to be in need.
Doug had extremely high personal moral and ethical standards. He quit a job at Arthur Andersen in the 90s because of his concerns over business practices he was seeing, a judgment that proved prescient given that firm’s collapse and demise a decade later in the wake of the Enron debacle.
Doug certainly marched to the beat of his own drummer, if you’ll forgive that cliche. He had very high standards he expected of himself, the kind that are difficult (if not impossible) to meet. Coupled with “some” stubbornness — not unique to Doug in this extended family! — and his insistence on always doing things his own way, those standards likely contributed to Doug’s ultimate inability to complete his PhD in evolutionary biology and ornithology, to his regret, as he would have loved a career teaching evolutionary biology as a university professor, while continuing his field research in many remote nature preserves and wilderness areas around the planet.
Darlene and family. Saundra and I extend our sincere condolences to the family In the loss of Douglas. May he rest in peace.
Rest in peace Douglas
Aunt Darlene, Greg, Brad, Monty, Sue, and all your families,
My sincere condolences to each of you. Thank you for sharing Doug’s story–so much for each of you to treasure and be proud for all he did. . . and he did it his way. May your memories of all his wonderful attributes bring you comfort and peace.
Lita Romanick
Oh no, so sorry to hear this. Doug was my freshman year roommate and I literally looked up to him in so many ways. Such a good person and great athlete with a ready smile. Represented North Dakota values so well, and always had fun stories to tell about growing up there. He will be missed…
What a lovely kind college classmate you were, Doug. The 1986 class is grieving your loss – glad for the wonderful contributions that you have made to nature and that our natural world made to your life, and wishing you and your family and friends peace.
I was shattered to hear this news—my heartfelt condolences to Darlene, Greg, Brad, Monty, Susan, and to the rest of Doug’s extended family and to all his friends and those whose lives he touched. And enormous thanks to Sue and Greg and everybody else here who’s shared stories and memories of Doug; it’s been fascinating to learn more about his extraordinary life. Doug was always a bit arms-length from me as we were separated in school by a few years, but through my friendship with Susan and the always amazing hospitality of the entire Schaefer family (thanks Darlene for indulging our seemingly permanent Dungeons & Dragons games/Risk tournaments etc.), I was able to get to know Doug a bit more. Nobody else that I’d ever heard of had gone to such a far-flung and (to me) exotic locale for college (apologies to the Schaefer siblings/relatives and to others here who already had; I was too simple at the time to realize!); he was the first person I ever knew to read things like The Confessions of St. Augustine (seemingly for pleasure?!); he indulged my no-doubt tiresome questions about Princeton and God knows what else with endless patience and grace; and his example of just going for it, of trying your best, of discipline and dedication, was a massive inspiration. I don’t recall much of what Doug talked about, but I remember a lot of what Doug did, and the fact that his achievement seemed to be less about just a fancy degree, or about chasing money or material success, or about chest-thumping or vanity or any of that, made it all the more impressive to me. When my own father died in 1984, Monty wrote me a note in a card that still resonates—words to the effect of “Keep your memories of him alive, and he’ll aways be with you” (I think they were more eloquent than that—sorry Monty!). At any rate, I hope that memories of Doug’s incredible life and character are a comfort to you all. I’m a better person today for having known Doug, even just a little, way back when. Love to you all.
Thanks again for sharing memories and stories everyone. I feel a need to make a correction, as I made a huge mistake in my prior note. I credited Doug for the books outside locker protest, which I’ve been told happened more like 1984 or 85. The idea is still brilliant, and likely was Mr Corey Seymours. I was waiting for a NRHS class of 82, 83, 84, or 85 to correct me. And today they have, if someone could reach Darin Broin to call Corey or Jim Dungan we would have ultimate verified status. As maybe Jim had alot to do with it-student council days.
I’m familiar with finding the truth, and am comforted in the need to do this again because of Doug!
Whatever the outcome, Doug was still my Hero, and may he rest in peace until we look to the heavens for those special scrabble words.
Older brothers are wonderful!
So sorry to hear of Doug’s passing. Thoughts and prayers to your family. Doug was a great friend, classmate, athlete and student. I have many great memories of staying out on “the farm”, milking cow(s) and when finished we got to ride the 3 wheeler and competing in extra curricular events.
Darlene, Greg, Brad, Monte, & Susan, & Families, We are so sorry to hear of Doug’s passing. He was a strong, silent man , a hard worker, a kind man, a wonderful neighbor & the best handyman I have ever hired!! May he rest in peace.
If you knew Doug you liked him.
Such a wonderful human being. I’ve often thought of Doug as well as my fellow classmates of 1982. My sincerest condolences to his Family and Friends.
Rest well my friend
I am so sorry to hear of Doug’s passing. He was such a kind and gentle soul. I was amazed by his many talents and how humble he was. I was very fond of him. He was also sweet enough to pretend that he didn’t see me cheating off of his history papers as I sat next to him.😊 I was also amazed at how he wrote in my yearbook in a backwards circle. I’m so sad that I never got to see him after high school but have many good memories! Doug, I’m sure you are enjoying your new spiritual life and will see you soon enough!
So sorry to hear of Doug’s passing. Remember him as a great person, friend, and teammate. Loved the conversations and lively banter one could engage with when chatting with Doug. Thoughts and prayers to Doug’s family.