Shannon Long

SHANNON MICHAEL LONG was born to Leonard Claude and Susan Antonette (Harrington) Long on December 23, 1974 in Paynesville, Minnesota. Shannon was baptized at Crow River Lutheran Church in Belgrade, Minnesota. He lived in Belgrade with his family until age 11 when he moved with his mother and siblings to Tyler, Minnesota. As a young boy, he had a paper route. Shannon was confirmed at First English Lutheran Church in Tyler. He attended RTR school in Tyler, completing 10th grade. After school hours, he worked at the Tyler Locker butcher’s shop. Later on, he went to Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Canby, Minnesota for Graphic Design. Following his education, Shannon was a mineworker in Nevada, carpenter and concrete layer in Tyler, then a worker for Twin City Fan of Elkton, South Dakota where he met Tabitha Erschens in 2005. The two were later united in marriage at the Shamrock, an outdoor courtyard in Brookings, South Dakota on July 3, 2010. The couple united their two families and raised their six children together in Pipestone, Minnesota. During this time, Shannon worked as a welder at Mark’s General Machine Shop and Greg’s Welding, Inc. in Pipestone. He started his own business in 2011 in Long Racing. In the summer of 2010, he broke his back in a motocross accident and had a steady decline in health, leading to his death on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at the Pipestone County Medical Center at the age of 38 years and 30 days.

Shannon loved motocross, riding and building motorcycles: Ducati and Falco. He was a member of the Sioux Valley Cycle Club. He loved spending time with his kids, teaching them how to skateboard and play the guitar. Camping and fishing were fun pastimes, along with taking his family to race track events.

He is remembered by his loving wife, Tabitha; their children, Danica Long of Brookings, South Dakota, Ethan Long of Porter, Minnesota, Taylor and Keana Long and Jaden and Rhyle Clark, all of Pipestone, MN; mother, Susan and step-father, Gary Johnson of Tyler, MN; two brothers, Blake Long of Livingston, Texas and Mitch Long of Madison, South Dakota; one sister, Sheila Minett and her husband Craig of Tracy, Minnesota; and many other friends and relatives. He is preceded in death by his father, Leonard Long.