Richard "Ric" Grant Sanftleben

Known to the world simply as, “Ric”, Richard G. Sanftleben was born March 30, 1954. One of three children, Ric grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he fell in love with motorcycles, learning his way around motors and engines, becoming a journeyman parts technician-even being a milkman for a time-before he became a cross-country truck driver, logging more than half a million miles between the U.S. and Canada until retiring from the road in the summer of 2014.
Ric fell in love with motorcycles at the age of 15, the love of his life, Carolyn, at 45, and NDSU Bison football at 55-even correctly predicting the Bison’s advancement to their fourth consecutive national championship game.

A man with a huge heart, Ric’s love for family was his driving force, evident in his insistence on family dinners, taking his mother-in-law, Elly on vacation with he and Carolyn last year, and frequent trips to Canada to see his daughters and their families. His love for family and sports combined in such a way that Ric could tell you about any player in the MLB and NHL, including details about their personal milestones such as marriages and births. For Ric, people and his relationships with them were not just a priority, but the priority.

A proud Canadian, Ric insisted his family and friends celebrate Thanksgiving in October, wear a “took” on their heads when it was cold out, and swore “Timmy” Horton coffee was all the world needed to get along. Known to his friends as “the Canadian Cowboy”, Ric’s latest loves were tenting with Carolyn in Detroit Lakes and hitting the open road on his Yamaha Road Star.
A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer on December 9, 2014 took everyone by surprise. Ric faced it with his typical courage, insisting on still trying to go to work at Simonson Lumber as a boom truck driver, though the disease made that impossible.

Ric died peacefully in his home the evening of January 7, 2015, under the care of Hospice of the Red River Valley and surrounded by his family and friends.

Ric is survived by his wife, Carolyn; daughters, Nikki (Mike) Cornforth, and their son Joey (11) and daughter, Lily (8); Carley Sanftleben (Mike Braun) and their daughters, Gracie (5) and Kaytlin (3 months); mother-in-law Eleanor Barnes, stepson Dustin Wold (Rachel Villarreal) and their expected daughter (who Ric predicted will arrive on his birthday); stepdaughter, Amber Wold; honorary daughter, niece, Leah Arkley (Ken), and their children, Jordan (20) and Regan (16); sister, Sandy (Andy) Pierce, and their children, Phillip and Erin. Ric will be joining his beloved mother, Mary; older sister, Sharon; niece, Donna; great niece, Riley; father-in-law, Hartzell, and father, Richard, in heaven- no doubt touring them around on a brand new Indian Victory.