Richard Stedtfeld
Richard Warren “Dick” Stedtfeld, 97, of Glasgow died March 12, 2026.
Born in Glasgow in September 1928, he met Ruth Elaine Lund at a Bible Camp in the Bear Paw Mountains of Montana in 1944. They married in 1952 and shared 70 years together until her death in 2021.
He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. He returned to Montana with his degree, his wife and four daughters, Laura, Aprille, Wendy and Alison, having secured his first teaching job at Willson Junior High in Bozeman. He developed a 100-member boys’ choir at Willson and many community members enjoyed his creative concerts.
He advanced his studies and education in 1966 after obtaining a master’s degree in counseling from San Diego State University and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota in 1969.
His first professorship was in Dillon at Western Montana College. His goal and dream of being a professor at a Lutheran College was realized in 1976 when he joined the faculty of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, as a tenured associate professor of education. He taught and inspired students for 17 years, retiring in 1993 with professor emeritus status. He was dedicated to his students and the college community.
After retirement, the couple purchased a cabin in the Bear Paw Mountains — near the very Bible camp where their love story began. They spent 21 years restoring and cherishing that cabin before
