Andrew M. Fischbach

Andrew M. Fischbach

FAITH | Mass of Christian Burial for Andrew M. Fischbach, age 92, of Faith, SD, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 8, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Faith, with Fr. Jim Hoerter and Fr. Mike Mulloy officiating. Burial with military honors will be at St. Joseph's Cemetery west of Faith, SD.

Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Faith Area Memorial Chapel in Faith. A rosary and Christian wake service will follow at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

He was a rancher and an engineer, a World War II veteran and an active contributor to the civic affairs of his hometown and state. Most of all, he was father to a large and boisterous brood of 10 children, who gave him 25 grandchildren and, so far, 33 great-grandchildren.

Andy Fischbach, a plain-spoken cowboy from Faith, S.D., died Tuesday morning at a nursing home in New Underwood, S.D., of complications from aspiration pneumonia. He was 92. The past three years he had been in assisted living in Rapid City, S.D.

Andrew Michael Fischbach was born June 15, 1920, to Michael and Theresa Fischbach in their ranch home on Red Scaffold Creek, five miles southwest of Faith. Mike was a 1910 homesteader.

Andrew and his sister, Maria, attended Edson country school and both graduated from Faith High School in 1937. He attended the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City for one year before enrolling in civil engineering at South Dakota State College in 1938. There he enrolled in the Army National Guard.

In early 1941, as he began his final classes before graduation, the National Guard was called to active duty and he was sent to Camp Claiborne, La., for training. At a troop dance in the spring of 1941 he met Yvette Labarre of New Orleans. Their courtship, mostly through daily letters, led to marriage at Chanute Field, Ill., on Aug. 29, 1942. The marriage lasted 61 years until her death in 2004.

Immediately after their wedding, they were stationed in Great Falls, Mont., where sons Michael and David were born, then in Spokane, Wash., before he was shipped overseas to combat duty in Okinawa, Japan, in early 1945.

He returned stateside that Christmas, after World War II had ended. His father had had a heart attack that winter. An only son, Andy came home to Faith to help his father "temporarily" on the cattle ranch before resuming his engineering studies. But his and Yvette's family grew, and he never left ranching. A greatly expanded Fischbach Ranch, in which sons David and Noel became co-owners, marked its 100th year recently.

Andy used his engineering training on ranch and civic building projects, including his two homes, the Faith Memorial Hospital, the Faith rodeo grandstand, a new gymnasium for Faith High School in the 1960s and an upgraded municipal airport in the 1980s.

He became a co-owner of Faith Lumber Co. in 1961, retaining part ownership until his death.

He was elected to the Faith City Council and the Faith School Board and was active in the Faith Hospital Association, the Faith Chamber of Commerce, and being dedicated to education, the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, the South Dakota Community Foundation, the Faith Stock Show Association, the Knights of Columbus and the St. Joseph Catholic Church parish council. For decades he mimeographed the weekly church bulletin.

In 1998 he received an honorary bachelor's degree from South Dakota State University, where his family was named family of the year a few years before. He moved to the Victorian Manor in Rapid City in early 2009 and had been in declining health for some time.

He is survived by sons, Michael (Ann) of Overland Park, Kan.; David (Eldora) and Noel (Julie) of Faith; Mark (Rose) of Seattle, Wash.; Dan (Marge) of Columbia, Mo.; Bob of Omaha, Neb.; and Andre (Mary Ann) of Clark's Summit, Pa.; daughters, Yvette Kottman of Lewes, Del.; Kathy Schuchhardt (David) of Faith; and Julie (Leo) Waner of Waunakee, Wis.; a sister, Maria (Walter) Schlomer of Glenham, S.D.; 25 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Yvette.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Faith Senior Citizens Center, the Faith Schools Fund or St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Condolences may be sent to the family through our website at www.funeralhomesofcaring.com.