Don and Edith ran the ranch with their son Con Short (Buzzie) until the former congressman's health failed in his late 70s. He developed Alzheimer's in his last few years and became more and more uncomfortable outside of Beach, ND. He was a long-time resident of Beach. He greatly enjoyed driving back and forth from Beach to the ranch in his later years to check on cattle and crops, until his death in Dickinson, N.D., on May 10, 1982. He was interred in the scenic Medora Cemetery, Medora. His gravestone is inscribed COWBOY, and sits on the top of a bluff overlooking town of Medora, next to the Medora Musical outdoor theater.