David Longtin

David Clifford Longtin, 67, of Bemidji, MN, and formerly of Crookston, passed away unexpectedly of natural causes Wednesday morning, March 30, 2022 at his residence in Bemidji.

Dave was born at Red Lake Falls, MN on October 20, 1954, the 2nd of 3 sons of the union of Willis and Theresa (Prudhomme) Longtin. He was baptized at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Red Lake Falls and educated at the Braille School in Faribault, MN. While boarding at the school Dave enjoyed frequent visits from his family. He had a paper route, bowled with classmates, and earned a letter while a member of the school’s swim team. He proudly graduated from the school with the Class of 1973 and enjoyed attending class reunions over the years.

Dave then moved to Duluth, MN where he worked for Goodwill Industries baling cardboard. In the late 1980’s he came to Crookston and began working at the ODC where he safely operated a power saw while making wooden slats for pallets used by Arctic Cat and Polaris for crating snow mobiles. Dave then spent a year living and working for ODC in East Grand Forks until the flood of 1997 when he relocated to Crookston to continue working for ODC. Three years later he moved to Thief River Falls, returning to Crookston in 2008 to work at ODC until it closed assembling training manuals to be used by various companies. He did office work for REM and the Longtin Insurance Agency owned by his brother, Ken. Dave enjoyed being a part of the office staff and took great pride in the job he did. Following his retirement a year ago he moved to Bemidji.

David was a member of the REM family for over 30 years. Everyone who knew David absolutely loved him, stubborn streak and all. Quoting one of his staff companions, “You think you’re coming to REM to teach skills and then you encounter Dave, who teaches you.” David shared his gift of compassion, acceptance, forgiveness, and humor with all he encountered and his life lessons will live on with everyone blessed to know him. He leaves behind a multitude of loving and funny memories. Dave was an avid Twins and Vikings fans and greatly enjoyed trips to the Cities to ‘watch’ them play. Going out to eat with his family and REM staff and co-workers was always something he looked forward to doing. By voice he would recognize everyone by name that he came in contact with during his daily routines, and all were amazed by his can-do spirit.

Dave will be sadly missed by his brothers, Steve (Debra) Longtin of Kalispell, MT and Ken Longtin of Crookston, MN; 3 nieces and their families: Sarah (Josh) Wieland of Crookston, Ann (Travis) Oliver of Crookston, and Paige (Joe) Shenann of Stacy, MN; an uncle, Hilaire Prudhomme of Milwaukee, WI; and his REM family including Jan Szczech of Fisher, MN and Kari Metzger of Erskine, MN. He was preceded in death by his parents, Willis and Theresa Longtin. May God richly bless the memory of David Clifford Longtin.

A memorial service for David Longtin will be held at 2:30 pm, Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at the Stenshoel-Houske Funeral Home in Crookston with The Rev. Joe Richard Richards, officiating. Visitation with the family will be for one hour prior to the funeral and the service will be livestreamed by logging on to Dave’s obituary page at www.stenshoelhouske.com and clicking on the prompt to view. Inurnment will take place in the Calvary Cemetery, Crookston, later this spring.

Messages of condolence to the family may be made at the Stenshoel-Houske website.