Duane O. Sandwick

Duane O. Sandwick, age 77, resident of Grand Forks, ND, died on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at Luther Memorial Home in Mayville.

Funeral Services will take place at 11:00am at Zion Methodist Church on Saturday, March 28, 2026. Visitation will take place one hour prior to the service. Burial will take place at Memorial Park South Cemetery at a later date. Memorials will be given to the Luther Memorial Home, the Memory Unit. Deepest thank you to all the staff at Luther. You are the most compassionate and caring people. We are so grateful to find a place like this and Duane would say the meals were great!

Duane "Dewey" Orvin Sandwick was born May 3, 1948, in Park Rapids, Minnesota to Orvin and Mildred (Trost) Sandwick. Duane spent the first twelve years living on the farm at Skunk Lake, Minnesota. He started playing guitar when he was in high school and had lots of happy stories about a couple of friends and him playing for the "hootenannies" after school. He worked for his uncle Al, on the farm to make some money. Duane graduated in 1966, from Gary High School.

After graduation he worked odd jobs until he joined the Air Force in May of 1967, where he went to training in Lakland Airforce Base in Texas. He was sent to 3 overseas tours. The first was the Philippines. The next was PleiCu Vietnam. He would say that he was there for 1 year and 8 days because he never got his orders so he hitched a ride to Saigon and bought his own ticket to the Philippines and left. That is the way he solved problems. While serving Duane was exposed to agent Orange which caused his Alzheimer's. While in the Philippines, he married Rose and brought her and her two children, Roman and Cynthia, to the Grand Forks Air Base. They were the beginning of his family. Later Richard and Jerry would join them.

Duane's last tour was Korea, when he completed that he served various other bases until he finished at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. He joined the Civil Service on the Grand Forks Air Force Base and worked at that job until he retired in 2007.

On June 20, 2008, he married Aileen Schroeder Fahey at Wesley United Methodist Church in Grand Forks. They had a good life for 27 years. He build a cabin on 4th Crowing in. After 10 years they moved to Lake Minnie by Itasca Park in Minnesota. Life was good for the two of them doing things they had not done before. The favorite were dancing, going on cruises, and taking a driving trip to Florida where they visited his family.

He played in the band called "Wingin It" for a few years. He grew up with music in his family and loved to sing and play guitar with his siblings.

God gave him an exceptional brain. He could build or fix anything he wanted. He drew his own simple plans for China cupboards, garages, sheds, a cabin and a she shed. Dewey was happiest when he had a hammer in his hand and building or fixing something.

He will be missed by many but especially his wife. She was with him through his Alzheimer's disease for 7 years until she had to move him to Luther Memorial Home on August 20, 2025.

Duane is survived by his wife of 27 years, Aileen; children, Roman (Sandra Blevins), Cynthia (Chad Miller), Richard and Jerry Sandwick; 3 granddaughters; 1 great-granddaughter and 1 great-grandson; brother, Charles (Veronica) McCalip of Bemidji, MN; his chosen brother, Carter Hedeen of Park Rapids, MN; sisters, Jan Pinske of Gary, MN; Collette Sketvedt and Rita Sandwick of Fargo, ND, and Beverly (Floyd) Hettver of DeGraff, MN.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Orvin and Mildred Sandwick; brother-in-law, David Pinske; and nephew, Bob McCalip.