Lloyd M. Olson

Lloyd Martin Olson, age 94, Kadoka, S.D., passed away on Jan. 3, 2016, at the Philip Nursing Home.

Lloyd was born on June 24, 1921 in Chamberlain, the only child of Oscar and Lula (Behrns) Olson. Lloyd’s first years were spent in Pukwana where his father owned a blacksmith shop. 

At age six, Lloyd moved with his family to a homestead eight miles south of Kadoka. He attended grade school at Wells Community School. When Lloyd was 14, his father passed away and he and his mother moved with other relatives and friends to Naches, Wash., where he attended high school and graduated in 1940. During high school, he worked at a dairy, bottling and delivering milk in the early morning prior to attending school. He and his mother returned to South Dakota after he graduated. 

In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After his discharge, he worked for the Bureau of Mines near Oacoma until 1946 when he returned to the farm. In 1952, he began working for Mobil Oil delivering fuel in addition to farming. 

On Friday, April 13, 1953, Lloyd married Viola Fisher, whom he met when he was six years old. They made their home on his farm, Olson Acres. In the following years, two daughters, Rita and Susan, were born. 

In 1957, Lloyd began working for Hogen’s Hardware in Kadoka, where he spent the next 47 years as a handyman, plumber and electrician while also farming and raising a few head of cattle. He retired from Hogen’s Hardware in 2004 at the age of 83. Due to his long tenure at the hardware store, he said there probably wasn’t a house in the area that he had not been in or under to fix something. Lloyd continued to reside on the farm until November 2013, when he moved into the Kadoka Gateway Apartments. 

Lloyd was a good-natured, easy-going, hard-working man who lived a simple and content life. He was known for his dry wit and his ability to fix “anything.” He was often the “go-to” guy for neighbors and friends who had a pump or washing machine that would not work and would either coach them over the phone or hop in his pickup to provide assistance any time of day or night. He lamented the advent of computer chips that replaced ordinary mechanics as he could no longer take something apart and tinker with it until he solved the puzzle. Lloyd had a gift for remembering details of past events as far back as childhood and always had an entertaining story to tell. 

Despite being henpecked by a household of women, Lloyd treasured his family and was proud of their accomplishments. During summer visits, he taught his granddaughters to drive his ’59 pickup and his old tractors in the fields around the farm. In 2011, he enjoyed a family driving trip to Oregon, where he visited his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He enjoyed history books, watching baseball, square dancing with his wife, playing cards with neighbors and friends and relaxing in his easy chair in later years. Lloyd was a long-time member of the American Legion. 

Grateful for having shared his life are his daughters, Rita Thomas, Medford, Ore., and Susan Olson of Phoenix, Ariz.; two granddaughters, Becky (Jason) Horvat, Portland, Ore., and Melanie (Ryan) Ilten, Beaverton, Ore.; four great-grandchildren, Ella and Logan Horvat, Portland, and CJ and Avery Ilten, Beaverton; three nephews, Dan Brown of Puyallup, Wash., and Eddie and Corey Fisher, Kadoka; and a host of other relatives and friends. 

Lloyd was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Viola, on June 1, 2015; his parents, sisters- and brothers-in-law, Dora and Max Brown, Kenard and Fred Fisher, Eileen and Rollin Heinsohn; and a nephew, Milton Brown. 

Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 11, at the Presbyterian Church in Kadoka with visitation one hour prior to the service. 

Interment will be in the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis at 2:30 p.m. the same day. Rush Funeral Home of Philip is in charge of the arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to the Kadoka Ambulance Service, Kadoka Volunteer Fire Department or the Philip Nursing Home in Lloyd’s memory.