Harold Schafer - Later Years

Later Years

After selling his Gold Seal interests, Schafer reinvested much of his assets in the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation to promote and preserve Medora's Western culture. Schafer was honored for this benefaction with the Roughrider Award, North Dakota's highest civilian honor.

Although Harold's business success received a huge amount of attention, he is fondly remembered by most North Dakotans for very different reasons. He was phenomenally generous, often to the exasperation of the people who were charged with the task of making Gold Seal prosper and grow. The early years of his life were marked by hard work and a nearly destitute existence, his middle years were marked by hard work and business success and the latter portion of his life was defined by hard work and his devotion to family, North Dakota and Medora. Through it all, he was always extremely generous. No living person knows the number of people touched by that generosity- but they are legion.

Harold had a quiet but determined faith in God that was inextricably woven into the fabric of his life. He expressed that faith by his actions more often than by his words. Though he seldom spoke of his faith publicly, that faith was strong and always guided his path. Harold gave God full credit for his accomplishments and often felt very undeserving of having the prosperity that had eluded so many others. He was ever mindful of the passage from Luke 12 which teaches that, "… for unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required…" The feeling that he was not worthy of being singled out for any unusual success was the driving force behind much of his generosity. Harold truly lived his faith.

As Harold grew older, his lifelong love for the Badlands and for Medora occupied more and more of his attention. He purchased the Rough Riders Hotel and the Ferris Store in 1962 and began renovating them in 1963. Other renovations and improvements soon followed and, in 1965, the Medora Division of the Gold Seal Company was opened to the public. Harold was enthralled with Medora and its fascinating history, and continued to pour his money and his efforts into this project. Medora eventually developed into the largest recreational area in the state of North Dakota. When the Gold Seal Company was sold in 1986, the family donated the Medora assets to the newly formed Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation. A very large number of people have worked very hard to make Medora the premier attraction it is today but, clearly, it all began when Harold's crew took the Rough Riders Hotel apart board by board and then painstakingly reassembled it. In later years, Harold would walk, with great difficulty, through the streets of Medora simply marveling at all that had been accomplished. He loved it. The happiest days of his life may have been those he spent with Sheila in Medora.

A number of awards were bestowed on Harold Schafer. A very large number of those were directly related to his philanthropy, but he also became the youngest person ever to win the Horatio Alger award, he was named one of the 10 best-dressed men in America by the International Association of Custom Tailors and Designers. In 1975, he was awarded the state's highest honor, the Rough Rider Award, by Governor Link.

Harold Schafer was a unique blend of flamboyance and humility, a successful businessman who was much more interested in sharing than in accumulating wealth. He was generous to the point of extravagance. He loved his family, North Dakota, Medora and the company he had built. He knew the joy of relentless hard work and the satisfaction of overcoming adversity in the face of all odds. He had great admiration for Theodore Roosevelt and relished in the kinship he felt with Teddy because of their shared love of the Badlands and their commitment to serving others. T.R. could have spoken for both of them when he said, "Ours was the glory of work and the joy of living."

Harold was particularly proud of the Harold Schafer Leadership Center which has been established at the University of Mary, and of the collection of Native American artifacts which he assembled and displayed in the Museum of the Badlands in Medora. A new Theodore Roosevelt Badlands Institute is currently being planned for Medora. The artifact collection will be housed within the Institute's facility.