Brian George Staska, 53, of Austin, Minnesota, passed away Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin.

He was born Jan. 26, 1964, in Owatonna, Minnesota, the son of George and Jeralene (Stavenau) Staska. He attended Owatonna High School, graduating in 1982. In 1986 he joined the Owatonna Fire Department. During his 12 years there he became one of the youngest to be promoted to captain and was urged to become a trainer/instructor. Brian served a year in Stewartville, Minnesota, and then spent 18 years as a Fire Training Program Manager at Riverland Community College. He continued his firefighting career with the Brownsdale, Minnesota, and Austin fire departments. During his career at Riverland he worked with Wanda Quinn Goligowski who became his wife on Feb. 18, 2005, in Las Vegas, Nevada. They spent their entire marriage working side by side. Together the couple raised three daughters. Brian treasured the time spent with his family. It brought him great joy to watch the girls participate in sports. His work training and instructing for the fire department was very fulfilling for him. Brian will be dearly missed by family, friends, and co-workers.

Survivors include his parents, George (Vonnie) Staska of Owatonna, and Jeralene Staska, also of Owatonna; his wife, Wanda Staska of Austin; his daughters, Brooke Goligowski of Austin,  Kaitlyn Goligowski of Austin, and Madison Staska of Austin; brothers, Bradley (Jodi) Staska of Owatonna, David (Jaime) Staska of Lake Elmo, Minnesota; sister, Connie (Craig) Minowa of Viroqua, Wisconsin; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Eddie and Doris Quinn of Albert Lea, Minnesota; brother-in-law, David (Sue) Quinn of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota; sisters-in-law, Sandy (Randy) Tomschin of Alden, Minnesota, Barb (Paul) Deckard of Reedsburg, Wisconsin; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Austin High School’s Knowlton Auditorium, with Pastor David Sobek officiating.

Visitation will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3, at Worlein Funeral Home in Austin, and for one hour prior to the service at Knowlton Auditorium on Saturday. Interment will be in Oakwood Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Brian’s family.

Services are prearranged and performed by Worlein Funeral Home of Austin. Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.worlein.com.