Richard (Dick) Oman

Richard (Dick) Eugene Oman of Spicer, Minnesota, passed away peacefully at the age of ninety-two on July 26th, 2025.

Born on January 6th, 1933, in Willmar, Minnesota, Dick grew up on the family farm in Spicer. From a young age he plowed the fields with a team of draft horses. This sparked his lifelong love of Percheron draft horses, which he raised and bred throughout his life. Dick was remembered by many in Spicer for the sleigh rides he and his team of Percherons gave each winter.

After Dick graduated from Willmar High School, he served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army in the Korean War, building and re-building airport runways. This skill ultimately turned into a long career in road construction with Duininck Construction and later with Kandiyohi County, grading roads for the New London-Spicer community, where he was known as the go-to guy to save the day each morning after a snowstorm. Even up until the age of ninety-two, he’d get up early the morning after a snowstorm, because he knew his sons would come by to help and it gave him a chuckle to beat them in the race to plow his driveway first.

Dick’s love of sports and the outdoors was unlimited. He regaled his family with tales of epic trips grouse hunting and ice fishing up north in his youth. New London-Spicer newspapers from the 1950s and 60s hold stories of his star pitching for the Norway Lake baseball team, as well as his success in local fishing competitions. It was during a snowmobile race in Spicer that he drove into what he described as “the most beautiful glen”—he knew immediately he’d found the place he wanted to live. He located the owner, purchased the land, and personally hand-built his first home and barn on it.

In 1994, Dick retired and focused on his Percherons, restoring antique farm equipment, and building another home on a beautiful piece of land in Spicer with his loving wife and companion of over thirty years, Kathleen (Kathy) Oman. They delighted in cheering on their children and grandchildren in local sports over the decades.

Dick was a member of the Percheron Horse Association with his wife Kathy and they travelled all over the U.S. showing their horses and collecting ribbons. Together they bred and cared for their home, Meadowview Farm, and their 20+ Percherons over the years.

His family enjoyed his quick wit. He was well-read and deeply interested in the world around him. His love of nature in Minnesota ranged from trips up North to enjoy the Boundary Waters to deep enjoyment of the wildlife he and Kathy could enjoy from their deck. They enjoyed a daily parade of deer, geese, turkeys, sandhill cranes, pheasants, sometimes a wily fox, and on one memorable occasion, a bear at the bird feeders.

He was predeceased by his first wife Linda Oman, with whom he had three children. He was also predeceased by his parents, Oscar and Anna Oman, and his siblings Kathleen, Marilyn, and John. He is survived by his wife, Kathy Oman; children Shawn (Andrea), Lisa (Michelle), Kris (Joy); step-children Jeff (Lynn), Sheri (Mike), Jon (Wendy), Joel (Kathy), Jim (Kirsten); and grandchildren Mitch (Heather), Shea, Whitney, and Cooper; and twenty-one step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Richard Oman’s life will be held at his and Kathy’s home on Thursday, August 7th, from 4:00-8:00 PM.

A private memorial for family will be held at Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Little Falls, Minnesota.