Richard “Rick” Hoefs, age 68, of Valley City, ND, died Wednesday, February 13th at Mercy Hospital in Valley City.  A funeral service will be held at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, February 19th at Trinity Lutheran Church in Valley City.  Visitation will be held on Monday from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM at Trinity Lutheran Church and one hour before the service Tuesday morning.  A prayer service will be held at 7:00 PM Monday evening at the church.  Interment will be in Hillside Cemetery, Valley City, ND.
Richard (Rick) Hoefs was born on March 21st, 1950 in Carrington, North Dakota to Gilbert and Ione Hoefs.  During his early childhood years, Rick’s family moved to Valley City.  At the age of 14, Rick had met Kathy Anderson, his next-door neighbor. Little did he know that five years later, on March 29th, 1969, he and Kathy would get married.  They remained in Valley City where they purchased their lifelong home and raised two daughters, Michelle and Jennifer.  Rick was employed through the Valley City Grocery Company as a warehouse worker and truck driver.  He continued to work for the company for over twenty years until they closed.  For the next few years he held various jobs including working at Mr. Spindle and on weekends would work for the Valley City Eagles Cub assisting with bingo and working the entrance as a doorman.  In 1997, he became employed by the Valley City Public Schools as a night custodian in the Junior/Senior High School building.  He definitely found his calling and it was very apparent to those that knew him that no one enjoyed their job more than Rick did.  He took pride in his work and developed lifelong friendships that brought him so much happiness and fulfillment.  Many years later he unfortunately had to leave his job much sooner than he had ever wanted to due to health issues that left him unable to work.  Rick was an outdoorsman and eagerly looked forward to hunting every year as well as fishing when he had the chance.  If he was not able to be out hunting or driving around looking for wildlife, he was calling up his family and friends to see if they had seen any “big bucks” running around or if they’d come across any pheasants on the road.  Aside from his love of being an outdoorsman, Rick equally loved spending time with his family and friends or dialing up everybody’s numbers and checking in to see how their day was or talk about current events. Rick also took pride in his grandkids and kept close tabs on them as they were the light of his life.  He was a member of the Valley City Eagles Club and Trinity Lutheran Church of Valley City. Rick was Eagle of the year in 1996.
Rick is survived by his wife Kathy of nearly 50 years; daughters: Michelle (Bill) Carlblom of Valley City; Jen (Nick) Morical of Bloomington, MN; grandchildren: Cody (Taylor) Carlblom of Valley City; Jessica (Brice) Kuska of Litchville; Tyler, Gabbi and Bryce Morical of Bloomington, MN; and three great-grandsons; Landon and Jensen Carlblom; Braxton Kuska. He is also survived by two brothers: Kevin (Susan) Hoefs; Randy Hoefs; two sisters: Beth (Kevin) Busche; Julie Nguyen; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, grandparents, two brothers, Terry and Michael Hoefs and one sister, Cindy Roth.