David Arthur Busch

David Arthur Busch, age 71, of Winona, MN, was born on November 2, 1951, and died on July 16, 2023.  On his last full day on this Earth, on the last day of the week, he worshipped God at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which he was passionate about.  On the morning of the first day of the week, God introduced David to eternity.

David was the second child of his parents, Clarence Augustus Busch and Wilma Mae (Haggard) Busch.  At age 3, David was bit by a mosquito and contracted La Crosse Encephalitis.  Near death, part of his brain died, and he became an epileptic, having Grand Mal Seizures.

At age 15, David dropped out of school, left home, and went to work for dairy farmer, John Lisowski in Alma, WI, for $5 a day plus room and board.  From there, he moved on to driving combine, following the wheat harvest from the Dakotas to Texas.

While in Texas, he worked on a huge feed lot, and it was during this time that he bought his first motorcycle. Which he would drive straight through from Minnesota to Texas. Then moved to Illinois where he did carpentry construction and lived in his converted school bus.  There was also a time where he drove semi hauling cattle up into Canada.  Also a time when he was on a tree planting crew.  Planting trees all over the United States, 3,000 – 4,000  trees per man per day.

He also tried his hand at dairy farming on the family farm, when interest rates were as high as 21%.  There was also a time when he was out west for 2-3 years, and nobody knew if he was alive or dead.

Note - David did all of this while having seizures, some involving accidents.  I would say he was very strong-willed, had no concept of fear, and cheated death many times.  With David, it was all or nothing.

When David was in his late 30s, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.  The Bible tells us that while you are on this Earth, you will have trials and tribulations John 16:33.  Well, David had his share of trials and tribulations throughout his life, especially the last 10-15 years, with all of the medical experimentation and screw ups.

But, but….let us remind ourselves that there is a whole eternity ahead of us.  Our time on Earth is just a drop in the bucket compared to the whole scheme of things.  I Corinthians 2:9 tells us, “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

David was preceded in death by his older sister, Margaret M., who was stillborn in 1949; his mother died in 1997 at the age of 83; and his father died in 2010 at the age of 98.

He is survived by his two younger brothers, Michael of Winona, MN, and James of Kenyon, MN.

Visitation will be held at the Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home, 376 E. Sarnia St., Winona, on Sunday, July 23, 2023, from 2 PM until the funeral service at 3 PM.  A luncheon and reception will be held at the funeral home following the service.

Private burial will be at a later time in Woodlawn Cemetery, Winona.