Ruggles Monroe Stahn, M.D., Rapid City, died Thursday, Feb. 24, 1994, in an airplane accident in Minot, N.D. He was born March 7, 1947, in Minneapolis, the son of Louis and Mrs. Cora Stahn. He spent his childhood in Washington, California, Texas, and Minnesota.
Stahn attended Concordia College in Moorhead, from 1965-69, and the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis from 1969-73. He served his internship at St. Luke's Hospital, Fargo, N.D., in 1973-74. He attended the University of Hawaii School of Public Health in Manoa, Hawaii, from 1979-81, where he received his master's degree in public health. While at the University of Hawaii he also completed a residency in preventive medicine.
Dr. Stahn had worked for Indian Health Service (IHS) since 1975 on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, San Carlos, the Indian Health Service Hospital, Yuma, the Southern Ute Tribe, Ignacio, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Lone Deer, and finally for the Aberdeen Area Indian Health Service, Aberdeen SD, as a diabetes control officer. He was stationed at Sioux San IHS Hospital in Rapid City. Dr. Stahn believed in a healthy lifestyle and was an avid runner.
He participated in the Black Hills Marathons in 1990 and 1993, and in several mini runs throughout the year. He was married to Jennifer Blair in 1974 in Tucson, Ariz. He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Blair, Rapid City; two sons, Nathaniel and Chai; and three daughters, Kirien, Arielle and Zia, all of Rapid City; his parents, Dr. Louis and Mrs. Stahn, Sauk Rapids, MN, one sister, Coralynn "Corky" Stahn, Durango, CO, one brother, Lyndell Stahn, Ennis, MT, his parents-in-law, Aubrey and Emilia Blair, and two all of San Francisco, Calif.
He will be missed by family and friends across the country. Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rapid City with Unitarian Lay Reader Marion Zenker officiating. A memorial education fund has been established for his five children. Memorials may be mailed to Box 9343, Rapid City, SD 57709.
"United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JYTG-6P6 : 10 January 2021), R M Stahn, Feb 1994; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
Name
R M Stahn
Middle Name
M
State
Minnesota
Age
47
Birth Date
07 Mar 1947
Death Date
24 Feb 1994
Born 3/7/47
Died February 1994 in a plane crash
From: The New York Times
On Feb. 24, 1994, a twin-engine Cessna crashed while trying to land in a billowing snowstorm in Minot, N.D., killing the pilot and three doctors from the Indian Health Service on a routine trip to a reservation clinic in the northern part of the state.
Federal investigators have yet to determine possible causes of the crash. As the twin-engine Cessna lifted off from Devil's Lake, N.D. on Feb. 24, its mission was to take the three doctors, who had flown frequently in their work with Indian health programs, to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation: Dr. Arvo Oopik, 37, who was part of a national team studying heart problems; Dr. Christopher Krogh, 45, who ran a program to reduce infant mortality, and Dr. Ruggles Stahn, 46, who directed an effort to prevent diabetes.
According to a state police report of the crash in February (1994), the plane went to Minot because of bad weather, although the storm there was as bad if not worse. Relying on instruments, (the pilot) missed his first approach. On his second attempt, he crashed more than 1,200 feet away from his intended runway.
From Sota Iya Ye Yapi, Official newspaper of the Sisseton and Wahpeton Oyate (SWO) of the Lake Traverse Reservation, March 1, 2004:
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