Bernard Schmanski

retired funeral director, Weiland Funeral Chapel, Madison, South Dakota, died March 30, 2020, at age 89. Schmanski attended St. Mary’s College in Winona for one year and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Upon completion of his service, he attended University of Minnesota Mortuary School. Schmanski worked for one year at Landkamer Funeral Home in Mankato and moved on to Breckenridge, Minnesota, where he worked for Joseph Vertin & Sons Funeral Home. After Breckenridge, he worked one year at Red Lake Falls and one year in Superior, Wisconsin, until he moved to Madison, South Dakota, in 1957.

Through 1968, Schmanski worked for the Sioux Council for Boy Scouts of America as a scout executive. He moved to Minneapolis to work as a scout executive for the Viking Council of Boy Scouts and for Anoka ­County, Minnesota, where he helped develop the very first Head Start program in the country.

He was drawn back to funeral service in 1968 and moved to Fort Lupton, Colorado, where he and his wife, Theresa, owned and ­operated Schmanski ­Funeral Home. In 1995, they moved to Madison, where he worked part time for Weiland Funeral Chapel until 2014.

Schmanski, a retired firefighter of 22 years with Fort Lupton Fire Department, served on the Fire Protection Board for 15 years, and from 1990-92, he served as mayor of Fort Lupton.

He is survived by sons Thomas, Robert and William; daughters Jeanne, Mary Beth, Janet and Susan; 17 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and sister Donna.