Obituary: Polka bandleader Artie Schaefer ‘loved making other people happy’

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
Updated ·5 min read

Artie Schaefer loved polka music and making people happy.

Schaefer, a former member of the Washington County Board, former Grant Township clerk and a longtime insurance agent, was never happier than when he was playing drums and singing with his German-style polka band, which regularly performed at the Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter restaurant in Grant.

“He was the voice of Oktoberfest,” said Kim Quade, former owner of the Gasthaus. “When he spoke, people listened. He had his audience wrapped around his little finger. It was God’s gift to him to put smiles on people’s faces, and he could do that with his drums and his voice.”

Schaefer, of Grant, died Monday at Our Lady of Peace Hospice in St. Paul of complications related to congestive heart failure. He was 85.

The Artie Schaefer Band used to draw more than a thousand people a week to the Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter restaurant and twice as many during festivals, Quade said. Crowds of more than 6,000 would come to hear the Artie Schaefer Band during Oktoberfest, she said. The band was especially known for their rendition of “Ein Prosit der Gemutlichkeit.” (“A toast to comfort.”)

“His voice was always loud and clear and understandable,” Quade said. “He loved making people smile and dance and have fun. That made his heart very happy.”

Schaefer, who lived on Manning Avenue just two miles south of the Gasthaus, was a regular at the restaurant after it opened in 1966. “Anybody he met was his friend. It was just that simple,” Quade said. “You said ‘Hi’ to Artie once, and he considered you a friend, and you considered him a friend as well. It was very easy.”

He was such a regular at the Gasthaus – arriving every night at 8:30 p.m. – that if he didn’t show up, restaurant staff would call to check on him or “drive to his house and make sure he was OK,” Quade said. “Every night. 8:30. You could set your watch to him. If he wasn’t there, something was up.”

Schaefer and his sister, Barb Raboin, once set out on a December night to see the Christmas lights on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. When Schaefer didn’t show up at the Gasthaus that night, she said, employees called the police and asked them to send an officer to his house to see if everything was OK.

“They watched over him,” said Raboin, who lived next door to her brother. “After that, he always checked in. That was his other family, and they loved him.”

The Gasthaus was “a very special place,” Schaefer told the Pioneer Press in 2016. “It’s outstanding. It was built in a very remote area where hardly anyone would think that a restaurant would pop up in the middle of the woods. But it became so popular.”

Schaefer grew up in Grant and graduated from Stillwater High School in 1954. He attended Macalester College in St. Paul for a year, but then returned home to help his parents, Raboin said.

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He worked for many years as a German Farmers Mutual insurance agent and had deep family ties with the company. His father, Arthur “A.B.” Schaefer Sr., worked as an agent with the company from 1924 until he died in 1987.

Schaefer Jr. grew into the role of insurance agent, Raboin said. “He was good at it because of his personality and his patience. He knew how to talk, and he was a good listener.”

Those skills also helped him in his role as Washington County Commissioner – another role in which he followed in his father’s footsteps.

When A.B. Schaefer, who served on the county board for 20 years, decided not to run for re-election, Artie Schaefer filed for the seat and won. He served on the board from 1970 to 1986. When voters saw the “Schaefer” name on the ballot, many assumed they were voting for his father, she said.

“He was good at it,” Raboin said. “He had more patience than anyone I know. He’d take phone calls, no matter what, and I remember the phone ringing a lot. He was a people person.”

In 2016, the Washington County Board of Commissioners recognized the 50th anniversary of the Gasthaus and the musical contributions of Schaefer, proclaiming April 23, 2016, as “Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter and Artie Schaefer Day.” Both the restaurant and Schaefer “have been major contributors to the health and happiness of residents of and visitors to Washington County,” the resolution stated.

The Gasthaus closed in December 2021 and is currently for sale.

Schaefer regularly checked in with county officials, said Commissioner Gary Kriesel. “He would contact me or public works if maybe there was a little extra gravel on Manning that shouldn’t be there,” he said. “He was always very respectful and supportive. What a loss to the community. I just loved him.”

Schaefer, who was single, was a beloved uncle who made every gathering at the Schaefer house fun and special, said Christy Magnuson, his great-niece. He helped organize poker parties, all-day sledding parties and massive Easter egg hunts, and taught all of his nieces and nephews how to drive, she said.

“To the world, he was very gregarious and outgoing and very funny, but he could also be quite shy and he was very sensitive and sentimental,” Magnuson said. “He cherished every member of our family, and our family is huge. He was just the kindest, gentlest guy you could ever hope to know.”

Magnuson said she will miss listening to Schaefer sing.

“He would always sing your favorites for you,” she said. “As I got older, my dad would say, ‘You have to stop asking him to sing “The Laughing Polka.” It’s hard for him, and he will not tell you “No.” He loved the tie-in to our heritage. Our family is very German.

“It comes back to community,” she said. “He loved making other people happy. That is really what brought him joy.”

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Baytown Township. Attendees are invited to the Gasthaus after the service for a light lunch and to share memories, Quade said.

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