Family and friends bid adieu to Dick Gwash in services at Oakwood Community Church in Becker Thursday afternoon. Private interment was to be made at the MN State Veterans Cemetery at Camp Ripley, Little Falls. Dick, long suffering from heart disease, passed away at the University of Minnesota Hospitals Saturday after a three-week hospitalization. He was 75.

 

He was born June 19, 1940 in Eveleth, MN to Katherine and Edward Gwash. Dick attended schools in Parkville, MN, graduating from Mountain Iron High School. He attended Virginia Junior College before enlisting in the US Marine Corps for three years, serving for a time in Okinawa and finishing in North Carolina.

 

He was married to his hometown sweetheart, Kathy Klink, Feb. 16, 1963. The couple had two children, Kevin, now of Orono, and Lori, of Becker. They lived in St. Paul and Blaine for nine years before moving to Big Lake.

 

He was preceded in death by his parents, and a sister, Mary Kaye. He is survived by Kathy, Kevin and Lori, a brother, Timothy (Brenda) and grandchildren, Angela Magney, Jeremy Steinke, Amanda Schulze, Erin Schulz, great grandchildren Peyton and Logan Magney, Nephew Kyle and his son, Aiden.

 

Dick and Kathy were most known locally for their popular pizza shop on South Lake Street in Big Lake, Gwashy’s Pizza, Subs & More, which they operated from 1987 to 1994.   They later sold it to the Artmann family.

 

Dick, always the salesperson, lived a life of salesmanship. As a kid, he sold newspapers and Wolverine salve. His first job after the service was  at Bethlehem Steel in St. Paul. He sold Kirby vacuums and Colgate-Palmolive products. He sold signage for National Advertising  Systems through 3M and Gulf, and later Attracta Signs. He peddled Keystone Auto bumpers and sold cleaning supplies. He sold automobiles for Elk River Ford and Saxon Motors and Dan’s of Big Lake. While he and Kathy wintered in Texas, they conducted arts and craft shows six days a week.  After concluding his automotive sales, Dick and Kathy were retired, living in Clear Lake by summer and usually in the south by winter.

 

He received a special acknowledgement this year by the Big Lake Legacy Foundation, which put his famous Gwashy’s subs on the menu for several evenings in their Music in the Park series. 

 

The subs sold out in minutes.