Boyd Poppen

Boyd Poppen, age 61, Aberdeen formerly of Garden City, died at his home in Aberdeen after a brief battle with cancer.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 from 4-6 PM in the Furness Funeral Home Chapel at Clark and will continue on Thursday morning at the Church in Garden City.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 11:00 AM in the Garden City United Methodist Church.  Pastor Mark Tracy will officiate with Dorothy Fuller as pianist.  Honorary casketbearers will be Jeremy Hamilton, Monty Benally, Thad Herman, Sam and Jack Poppen and all other nieces and nephews.  All of Boyd's friends, especially, John Wookey, Randy "Fuzz" Foster, Johnny and Andy Wookey, Doug "Happy" Clausen, Rick "Badger" Mulder, Kathy Kruthoff, Mike Langenfeld, Gregg "Mutt" Helms, and posthumous Roger Helkenn should also consider themselves as honorary casketbearers.  The active casketbearers will be Matt and Ben Jensen, Brandon, Ryan, and Shane Larsen, and Jeremy and Jasten White.   Burial will be in the spring of 2020 in the Garden City Cemetery.

He was born Boyd Nolan Poppen on October 15, 1958 at Watertown, the son of DuWayne and Betty Ruth (Whitford) Poppen.  Boyd attended Garden City Elementary and Clark High School graduating in 1976. While he was in high school he was active in sports activities.  After high school he attended Dakota State University at Madison and then transferred to National American University in Rapid City graduating with a degree in surveying.

He began his employment with Chevron working in Texas, California, Wyoming, Montana and then in the mid 1990's moved to Rapid City working as a surveyor in the Black Hills area including surveying the face and arm of Crazy Horse Memorial. .  In 2001 he moved to Aberdeen as a Regional Lead surveyor for the State of South Dakota, NE Region.

Boyd thoroughly loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing and being on the farm.   He always was looking out for his Mom when he was around.  Second to none though was his fun-loving attitude and following the nieces and nephews in their events, especially the nephews in their wrestling events.  He loved watching professional sports of all sorts, being an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and attending the Twins baseball games.

Preceding him in death were his grandparents and his father, DuWayne Poppen.

Survivors include his mother, Betty Poppen of Garden City, his soulmate of 10 years and fiance, Jeannie Sherrard of Aberdeen and her children, Tim (Lily) White, Danielle Sherrard and fiancé Tyre, Charmayne Sherrard and a grandson, Calvin White.  He also leaves siblings, Colleen (David) Jensen of Huron, Kelvin Poppen of Garden City, Russell Poppen of San Antonio, TX and Dan (Jody) Poppen of Watertown.

Funeral arrangements are with the Furness Funeral Home at Clark where there is an on- line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com