Dick was my father-in-law, or technically my step-father-in-law, for nearly 30 years. When I first met him in 1993, he had been married to Steph's
mom, Kitty Winn, for over 10 years. Steph and Dick never lived in the same household but she had known him since high school. I knew that he was an active
member of the Norseman M.C. because we talked about the club frequently. He would let me know what was currently going on. While I was doing research
for Pioneers of Minnesota Motocross in 2020, the District 23 Origin Story was all courtesy of Dick, much to my surprise. In over 25 years of
conversations, it somehow never came up that he was one of the Founding Fathers of District 23. Because Dale Greenwald spearheaded it, even when he
did talk about it, Dick always minimized his involvement.
Dick receiving an award for helping start District 23 fifty years earlier and for the many decades he was active in the Norseman. He and his first wife, Nancy, were the original signatories on the District 23 bank account.
Left to right - Gerry Mathwig, Dick, Mike Quinn, Louisa Greenwald, Kitty A few years later, I started an Early Days of District 23 FB group. I posted a few photos of Dick and his motorcycles and someone always knew who he was. People I had known for years in some cases. He was always the quiet guy, making it work behind the scenes. He never talked much about his own racing, but I knew his brand of choice was BSA.
Dick had a lot of tragedy in his life but he never talked about it. His first wife, Nancy, died when she was struck by a car. His two children were very
young at the time. His only sibling, Paul, was also a motorcycle racing enthusiast but his surface of choice was pavement. He was with his girlfriend on
a track day at Brainerd International Raceway when she was killed in an accident. Paul was so distraught that he later committed suicide. Early in
2020, Dick's son-in-law Caith Reilly, father of three young children, passed away after
an accident at home. While some may have become cynical or discouraged about the unfairness of it all, he just kept doing what he was doing, working his
job and taking care of his family.
The clan together in Arizona for 2016 Thanksgiving. The kids are all at least a foot taller since this was taken. In his "spare time", he was a founding and continuing member of the Norseman. He would also take basket case motorcycles, often just parts in boxes or a rolling (with some help) chassis, and make them into a fully operational motorcycle. His original garage had been converted into an indoor workshop and the "new" garage had many motorcycles crammed into it also. He always had several projects in progress.
This is before I knew him. Riding in Colorado with his buddies.
Photo PagesFamily Dick's Garage 2017 X-Games Flat Track Goldie - 1954 BSA 500cc Goldstar Text of Obituary:
Born October 11th, 1943 to Helmuth "Ham" and Marian Bielke, the day after Ham boarded the troop train to serve in the US Army. Dick attended Roosevelt High School, Minneapolis, MN, Class of 1961 before studying at The University of Minnesota where he earned is B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Dick never had a job he didn't love and worked at the 3M Company, Carl's Motorcycle Shop / Cass Sarew Machine Shop, and finally, he retired from Bremar, Inc in 2001. Dick's passions included building a home workshop for his motorcycle addiction, the annual family lip-sync battle and vacations as well as a love for music of all kinds. Dick was preceded in death by Ham and Marian, his children's birth mother, Nancy (d. 1977), and his brother, Paul. He is survived by his loving wife and children's adoptive mom, Kitty; his loving children, William Bielke (Elizabeth), Anne Reilly (Caith d. 2020), and Stephanie Chase (Bob); and his four wonderful grandchildren, Brooklyn, Kiera, Norah, and Thomas.