Floyd Obermeier Flatten

Floyd O. Flatten, age 94, Clark, formerly the longtime postmaster in Crocker, SD, died in the Prairie Lakes Hospital at Watertown on Tuesday morning, April 14, 2015. Visitation will be held on Sunday, April 19, 2015 from 5-7 PM at the Furness Funeral Home in Clark and continuing after 9AM at the Church on Monday. Funeral services will be held on Monday, April 20, 2015 at 11:00 AM in the St. Paul Lutheran Church at Clark with The Reverend Gary Anderson officiating and Jodi Engels, Prairie Lakes Hospital Pastoral Care, assisting. The organist will be Dorothy Fuller with Fred Obermeier as soloist and Marvine Obermeier as accompanist. The active casketbearers will be his grandsons, Joe, Jerry & Jeff Bjerke, Dustin, Casey, Corey & Jeremy Flatten. Honorary casketbearers will be his granddaughters, Jackie, Julie, Tracy, Michelle, Leslie, Bobbie Jo, Autumn, Dixie, Jill, Josie, Kelly and Martha's grandchildren, Todd, Mark, Ryan, Adam, Darci, Mary, Chaille, Cheri and Becky. Other honorary casketbearers will be longtime friends, Lawrence Stromsness, Dick Rasmussen, Dr. Clark Likness, and the staff of the Fay Wookey Assisted Living Center. Burial with full military rites provided by the NE South Dakota Vietnam Veterans Assn. and the Honor Guard of the United States Navy will follow in the St. Boniface Cemetery at Clark. He was born Floyd Obermeier Flatten on January 16, 1921 during a three-day blizzard on his grandparents' farm northeast of Crocker, the son of Oscar and Pauline (Obermeier) Flatten. He attended school in Crocker and then started high school at Bradley. During his junior year the family moved to Watertown and then later to Hatfield, MN. Floyd did not continue schooling in Hatfield; instead he went to work at a cement and brick factory in St. Louis Park, MN. The family returned to South Dakota and lived in Raymond. It was at a dance in Raymond; he met and later married Vanetta Deslauriers. They were married on October 3, 1940 at St. Michael's Church in Clark. To this union a daughter and four sons were born. In March of 1944 he enlisted in the United States Navy, having a daughter at home and a son, David born in August of 1944. Floyd would only see David once during his stint in the Navy as David died at only 5 months of age. Floyd would occasionally share stories of his time in the service, having a hard time too because of David. He survived the battle of Okinawa, the ship being bombed, stalled, and engine work done by Floyd and a fellow serviceman, got the timing back on and the ship on its way. Floyd was honorably discharged in January of 1946. He returned to the Raymond area, and after a short stint with International Harvester in Minneapolis, they moved to Crocker and started Flattens Store in April of 1946. In February of 1949 he became Postmaster at Crocker. The family grew with three boys being born in the family. In 1969 Floyd and Vanetta parted ways and Floyd continued living and working in Crocker. On August 31, 1973 he was united in marriage to Martha (Milbrant) Graves from Aberdeen, which they had also met at a dance in Aberdeen. Martha moved to Crocker and lived and helped at the Flatten Store and after Floyd's retirement as postmaster in 1980, Martha continued on in that capacity. Floyd retired from the store in 1983 and they moved to a home at Big Stone Lake. They spent some winters in Texas and Arizona, moving to Clark in 1995 and then to Watertown in 2005. In 2010 they moved back to Clark and became residents of the Wookey Assisted Living Center. Martha died August 10, 2011. Floyd has continued making the Wookey Center as his home. Some of his favorite pastimes were fishing, gardening and second to none was cooking. His Italian sauce will long be remembered as well as homemade sauerkraut. In the community Floyd was one of the founders of the Crocker American Legion Post # 203, being a Legionnaire for 69 years. Floyd will long be remembered as being an avid fan of the Minnesota Twins, still cheering them on from his hospital bed these past days. He also enjoyed reading Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey books. Preceding him in death were his parents, a son David, his wives, Martha and Vanetta, a son-in-law, Jim Bjerke and siblings, Harland, Malcolm, Philip Ray and Phyllis. Grateful for having shared in his life are his children, Sharon Bjerke, Dennis (Pat) Flatten all of Clark, Lanny (Donna) Flatten of Crocker and Rick (Patsy) Flatten of Wallace, a brother, Eldon (Rita) Flatten of Bloomington, MN and a sister-in-law, Kelly Olson of Winona, MN, 27 grandchildren, 66 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great grandchildren. Also surviving him are Martha's children, Janice (Barry) Grote of Illinois, Gary (Joan) Graves of Omaha, NE Linda (Thomas) Hardin of Las Vegas, NV and Jeanette (Conrad) Hottman of Houston, TX. Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com