Benedict Samek

Benedict "Benny" Samek, 86 of Wahpeton, North Dakota, passed away on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at CHI St. Francis Medical Center in Breckenridge, Minnesota.  

Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, March 14, 2024, followed by a prayer service at St. John's Catholic Church in Wahpeton. His Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 15, 2024, with visitation one hour before the service at the church. Fr. Greg Haman will officiate the service. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery in Wahpeton.

Benedict John Samek was born Feb. 20, 1938, on the family farmstead in Ash Coulee, South Heart, North Dakota. He was the 11th out of 15 children born to James and Mary (Zastoupil) Samek. The family, in 1943, moved to a farm 10 miles north of Wimbledon, where he attended country school for first and second grade, and then he went to a boarding school for Catholics in New Rockford, North Dakota, 60 miles away from home with four of his sisters and one brother. He returned home to help on the farm and attended the seventh and eighth grades, later returning to St. James Academy for the ninth grade. 

Benny was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1961 and spent 18 months over in West Germany. After being discharged in 1963, he returned to work on the farm with his brother Frank. Benny had a connection to the church and wondered where Father Healy relocated. The father transferred to a small town quite a few miles away, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, in Fingal, North Dakota. This is where he would meet his future wife Rosalia (Rosie) Huber at the fall supper, which was arranged by the priest and the two families. Benny and Rosie were married on Oct. 20, 1965, and they made their home near Wimbledon where they began to raise a family. Clayton, Cindy and Chris were born here. 

In 1971, he moved his family to Breckenridge, Minnesota, where they welcomed baby number four, Calvin. Benny went to NDSSS from 1971 to 1974 to get a degree in heating and air conditioning along with environmental systems, in designing equipment. He worked for a company out of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. In the fall of 1974, the Minn-Dak Sugar Beet Plant was built, and he was offered a job there. After 29 years of being their top mechanic, Benny retired in 2003. He was a Jack of all trades.

Later, Benny moved his family one last time to their present home outside of Wahpeton, in the Dwight, North Dakota, area, where they had a hobby farm of 13 acres. This is where babies number five and six were born, Carmen and Clinton. He was a member of St. John's Catholic Church and a lifelong member of The Knights of Columbus. 

Benny loved taking rides to town and always had a list he had to do and made sure he did them. He was a perfectionist and believed if he did it his way it was the best! Benny talked highly of his wife, Rosie, children, grandchildren, his home, his pets, and his job at Minn-Dak. He was very dedicated to whatever he started on and always had many projects going on.

Benny loved his casino trips, visiting with family and friends and was a storyteller. His garden was one of his lifelong loves and he shared it with all. Rosie would pack up the car and sell his produce at the farmers market or on the radio swap shop. He loved family trips and vacations. His family was never left out and were included in all of his interests. He had his children into things they loved, such as motorcycles and snowmobiles. He had strong religious beliefs.

Some more of Benny's loves were bowling, bingo, horseshoes, The Fryn' Pan, the Stop-n-Go Breck, sweet baked goods, Minn-Dak, tractors, card parties, mowing, snow blowing, plowing his fields, McDonalds, his garage and his TV, his family holidays and get togethers, trampoline for kids, wildlife, honor flight, button down flannel shirts and penny loafers, football, ice cream and music. He was very fond of country living, his neighbors and his DIY projects, the rocking chair and his golf cart and also celebrating two birthdays, which he found out later in life. 

Benny always had a project going around his town, he was a mechanic and working on a vehicle, tractor, lawnmower or anything that needed fixed. His pride and joy was his wife, children, grandchildren, and his pets. He enjoyed feeding the birds and farm cats. He was very creative in everything he put his heart and soul into. Those hard-working hands can never be replaced. 

Benny is survived by his six children: Clayton Samek, Jamestown, North Dakota, Cynthia Samek, rural Wahpeton, Christopher (Angela) Samek, Springfield, Missouri, Calvin Samek (special friend, Karen), Fargo, North Dakota, Carmen (Jeremy) Miller, Breckenridge, Clinton Samek, rural Wahpeton; many grandchildren and great grandchildren; sibling's brothers, Frank (Deb) Samek, Fargo, Steve (Karen) Samek, Alexandria, Minnesota, Vitres (Sara) Samek, Blue Earth, Minnesota, sisters, Patricia (Laudie) Cherney, Jamestown, and Bertha (Lloyd) Lorenz, Fon Du Loc, Wisconsin. 

Benny is preceded in death by his wife, Rosalia (Rosie) (Huber) Samek, his parents, James and Mary (Zastoupil) Samek; brothers, George (Aggie) Samek, Laudie (Agnes) Samek, Wenzel (Mary) Samek, Bernard (Barbara) Samek, Valentine Samek; sisters, Mary (Irvin) Albrecht, Mildred (Joe) Clarys, Margaret (Gene) Haugen, GoergieAnn (Taft) Cherney. 

"The family would like to thank everyone for attending, and to remember that if you were friends of one of the Sameks, you were lifetime friends of the entire family." 

Arrangements have been entrusted to Vertin-Munson Funeral Home, Wahpeton.