Russell Samuel Schultz (Sam) passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024 of natural causes. His family was by his side. Sam was born on October 28, 1939, to Nellie Mae and Russell Lewellyn Schultz in Rensselaer, Indiana. He grew up in Kentland, Indiana and graduated from A. J. Kent High School in 1957. He loved athletics and played football, basketball, and track. He excelled in track, breaking school and county records in the quarter mile and the high jump.

He attended Purdue University majoring in Philosophy and graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1960. Sam then attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City from 1960-1964. During that time, he worked 2 years in the inner city to improve housing and living conditions in impoverished areas. Later he worked one year for the office of economic opportunity to help families own their own homes. In his last year, he served as an intern pastor at a Long Island church. Upon graduation in 1964, he received his Master of Divinity degree and was ordained as a minister in the United Presbyterian Church.

In 1964, he moved his family to Boulder, Colorado to pursue a doctorate in Theology and Philosophy. His restaurant career began in 1965 when disillusioned with the quality of the graduate program in Colorado. He left school and took a job managing The International House of Pancakes to support his family. Over the next 10 years he would manage multiple restaurants and a resort in Colorado. In 1975, along with other family members, he purchased the Chief Restaurant in Custer, SD, followed by the Dakota Cowboy Restaurant and Motel, Wild West World, and The Stage Stop Restaurant and Theater. He opened Laughing Water Restaurant at Crazy Horse Memorial and later Reintree Restaurant in Phoenix, AZ, and The Dark Horse in Custer. His restaurant career spanned over 40 years, bringing quality food and service to the Black Hills.

Sam was very creative always designing a new project or looking for a better way of doing a task. He spent many of his working years remaking his restaurants. He spent his hobby time and retired years keeping up with his many children, encouraging them to think deeply and work hard. He enjoyed “fixing” and painting cars. He was an accomplished photographer and writer, often printing the photos he had taken. His daughter Shawn loved horses and Sam invested heavily into Windance Farms Training and Breeding Center and into Eros, her steel art business. He encouraged creativity and athletic and academic pursuits in all his children, nieces, and nephews. He never missed an opportunity to support them at any of their athletic, musical, or theatrical events. He often said his greatest accomplishment was his children.

Sam is preceded in death by his mother, father, brother Max and sister Joan. Sam is survived by his sisters, Sandra McFarland (Joe) of Rapid City; Sharon Jones of Custer, and his eight children, daughter Shawn Schilling (William) of Custer, SD; son Austin Schultz (Rachael) of Omaha, NE; daughter Luressa Edrington (Charles) of Germany; daughter Alexandria Stoltenberg (Cody) of Omaha; daughter Ashley Schultz of Lincoln, NE; daughter Alisha Herman (Cody) of Custer, SD; son Jaden Schultz of Custer, SD; daughter Skye Schultz of Custer, SD and his 12 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be conducted on Saturday March 9th at 11am at Living Outreach Church in Custer, South Dakota. Following a reception after the service, Sam will be laid to rest at the Custer Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the family. 

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