Daniel Joseph "Dan" Eischens

Daniel "Dan" Joseph Eischens, age 82, of Osage, Minnesota, passed away on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at Ecumen-Emmanuel Nursing Home in Detroit Lakes, MN. A celebration of Dan's life will be held on February 26, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church in Park Rapids, MN, with the visitation one hour prior. The inurnment will take place at Osage Cemetery in spring. Cease Family Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. Dan was born April 10, 1943, to Joseph and Mabel (Lembke) Eischens in Sturgis, South Dakota. He graduated from Park Rapids High School in 1961. Dan joined the United States Navy in 1965, where he served as a radioman aboard the USS Comstock during the Viet Nam War. On June 21, 1969, he was united in marriage to Diana Ylineimi at Calvary Lutheran Church in Park Rapids. The couple spent their first five years in Minneapolis, where Dan drove a concrete truck for GL Contracting. In 1974, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Jeanie, they finished building their home, in Osage, MN. In 1977, he bought his own semi-truck and started Eischens' Trucking. Jeanie traveled with him in the summer and the two covered 32 states together. In 1988, he left the trucking business and went to work as a heavy equipment operator and truck driver for Sellin Brothers and then MN Limited Pipeline until his retirement in 2004. In Dan's younger days he was an avid snowmobiler with a fondness for racing Arctic Cat sleds, and completed the Winnipeg 500, a grueling 500-mile race from Winnipeg, Canada to St. Paul, MN. Dan enjoyed operating heavy equipment like backhoes and skid steers. He was also an enthusiastic card player, who taught all his grandchildren to play his favorites, cribbage, pinochle, and rummy. He also loved going to bingo with Diana. But his favorite pastime was spoiling his grandchildren and spending time with them. Dan was always ready for an adventure with his grandchildren whether that was saddling the horses or sharing his deer stand, where he would end up taking more pictures of deer than shots at them. He enjoyed taking them to Osage beach or just sitting down for an episode of "Gunsmoke". Dan is survived by his wife of 56 years, Diana; a daughter, Jeanie (Chris) Coborn of Osage, MN; two sisters, Mary (Jerry) Holmer of Osage, MN; and Eileen (George) Hache of Osage, MN; three grandchildren: Cole (Amanda) of Park Rapids, MN; and Kaisa and Kendra of Osage, MN; and a great-grandson, Cray. He is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Mabel.