Richard Cheney Haugland

Richard Cheney Haugland is celebrated as a good man of absolute integrity. He was born on December 25, 1935, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His parents are Cynthia and Gerry Haugland. Richard’s childhood home overlooked the mighty Mississippi River, on which he skated during the winter freezes. His childhood was rich with summers working on the family farm, education in a one-room schoolhouse, time spent in a cabin near the Canadian Border, Lutefisk on Christmas Eve and family gatherings across the state of Minnesota. Richard graduated high school at age 16, and attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he played on the school hockey team, and became team captain. While in college, he met Connie Lynde from Muskogee. Connie thought he was “the best-looking thing I had ever seen.” They married while Richard was in law school at the University of Minnesota. After Richard’s graduation, the couple moved to Muskogee in 1962, where eventually their first child, Brita, was born. Next, came their son, Georg. Years later, Anna Rosenquist, an AFS Exchange student, joined the family and remains close to her Okie parents. After moving to Oklahoma, Richard trained to be and worked as a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. In 1975, Richard graduated from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. He then became a respected officer in Muskogee at First National Bank and later at Citizens Bank, which became Bank of Oklahoma. Richard also led a life of service for Muskogee and Oklahoma. He was appointed by the Oklahoma Speaker of the House of Representatives to serve as a trustee of the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) and the Uniform Retirement System for Justices and Judges. He served the state of Oklahoma and the 65,000 members of both retirement systems with distinction for approximately 20 years, appointed for 6 terms. During his tenure, he served on the OPERS investment committee and its audit committee, and led the audit committee as chairman from 1995 to 2007. From August 30, 2000, to August 30, 2016, Richard served as both a trustee of the Muskogee City-County Trust Port Authority and as a Board Member of the Muskogee City-County Port Authority. Richard was recognized as a loyal and dedicated board member for the Port Authority, who contributed greatly to the growth, development and success of Port Muskogee. For more than forty-four years, Richard also endorsed and supported the work of the Shriners whose hospitals rebuild and save afflicted children. Richard hunted throughout his life. He grew up hunting in Minnesota and as an adult, continued to hunt nearly every season. He cut short a recent family trip to return to Muskogee in time for the September 1 start of what would be dove season. Richard was a sharpshooter and tracked deer, elk, turkey, quail, dove, duck, geese, and pheasant. Even in December 2023, he provided duck for the dinner table, a hunter always. Richard lived life to the fullest. He and Connie stalked pheasant, tubed Oklahoma rivers with the Wauhillau Outing Club, biked trails with their family, cooked memorable meals together, visited family in Minnesota and in the past, skied with the Muskogee Ski Club. In 1988, Richard was awarded a certificate for a mile high skydive in Muskogee. At the time, Richard decided to take that jump to confront the cold sweat tingling he felt each time that he looked out of a skyscraper window. Later, as Richard and Connie approached 80 years of age, they went white water rafting with good friends and when their rafts failed to cooperate, the octogenarians were dumped into turbulent white waters. An adventure and a challenge. This last summer, Richard and Connie celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, a lifetime of love, family, and friends. Avid (and competitive) sports fans, they would yell at and cheer for the Sooners, and watched golf holding hands on the couch. Even in retirement, Richard read multiple newspapers per day, subscribed to a number of magazines, and was a perpetual student of vehicle mechanics, politics and finance, a passionate debater on all of these subjects. Richard was devoted to his family, proud of his children (and spouses) and grandchildren (and partners) and was smitten by his great-granddaughter. Richard is preceded in death by his grandparents, parents, and sister, Sally. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Connie, his daughter Brita and son Georg, his son-in-law Daman Cantrell and daughter-in-law, Candee Haugland, his two grandchildren Audre and Francheska, Audre’s husband, Samuel, and Francheska’s partner, Sam, his great-granddaughter Shelby and Richard’s dear cousins and nephews and nieces, all of whom he cherished. Richard’s family and friends celebrate his strength as a husband, a cousin, an uncle, a brother, a father, grandfather and great-grandfather, a friend, a Shriner, a hunter, a citizen of Muskogee, a member of Grace Episcopal Church, and a champion card player. He will be greatly missed. The family will greet friends from 4-5PM, Thursday, February 1, 2024 at Cornerstone Funeral Home. Funeral services celebrating Richard’s life will be at 2PM, Friday, February 2, 2024 at Grace Episcopal Church with Father Chris Cole officiating. Interment will follow at Greenhill Cemetery in Muskogee.

Richard Cheney Haugland

December 25, 1935 - January 23, 2024