Gary Steven Kerkvliet

Gary S. Kerkvliet, age 64, Bryant, died suddenly on Sunday, April 21, 2013 in the Avera DeSmet Memorial Hospital at DeSmet after suffering an apparent heart attack at home. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 from 5PM - 7PM with a Liturgical Wake Service at 7PM all in the St. Mary's Church at Bryant. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 10:30 AM in the St. Mary's Church at Bryant with The Reverend John Short officiating. Following a dinner in the church hall, burial will be in the St. Mary's Cemetery at Watertown. Jayne Pommer will be the organist with special music by Doug Kazmerzak. The honorary casketbearers will be his grandchildren with the active casketbearers being his nephews, Jason, Ryan, Mike and Nick Kerkvliet, Adam & Keith Wicks and Cole Birkholtz. He was born Gary Steven Kerkvliet at Marshall, MN on August 29, 1948, the son of Bernard & Geraldine (Dirckx) Kerkvliet. Until the age of 10 he attended school at Marshall and then the family moved to a farm south of Willow Lake, SD. Gary continued his schooling in Willow Lake until the family moved to a farm east of Willow Lake where he continued his education at Bryant graduating with the Class of 1966. While in high school he was active in the FFA and also was part of the annual staff, taking many of the photographs for the yearbook. Following high school, he attended SDSU at Brookings studying agri-business. Following some college, he left the area and moved to Minneapolis working for the Butler Co, later being a part of Penske - Mammoth Manufacturing. On November 22, 1969 he was united in marriage to Caroline Block at Webster. To this union, 7 children were born. He worked in the Minneapolis area for several years before returning to Castlewood, SD, and purchasing a farm in the mid 1980's. In the early 1990's Gary began a career in trucking, driving on his own and also working for various firms in the area. At the Bryant Quasquicentennial in 2011, Gary rekindled a friendship with Gloria Davidson and the two have built a relationship since that time and were engaged to each other now at the time of his death. Gary has been living in Bryant for the past year. In his free time he enjoyed snowmobiling with his kids in younger years, camping, fishing, doing some hunting, and his enjoyment of older cars, especially a 1957 Ford Fairlane. He thoroughly enjoyed and loved his grandchildren, watching all the news channels and listening to Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings to name a few. Preceding him in death was his father Barney Kerkvliet and a son, Jeremy. Survivors include his fiancé, Gloria Davidson, mother, Geraldine Kerkvliet both of Bryant, children, Steven (Nickie) Kerkvliet of Castlewood, Sharleen Kerkvliet of Yankton, Kevin (Sandy) Kerkvliet, Nicolle (Vince) Zubke, Mark (Melody Hansen) Kerkvliet and Kimberly (Lance) Diedrich all of Watertown, 12 grandchildren, Aleks, Stephanie, Shelby, Garret, Brandon, Jonathon, Isabella, Bailey, Carter, Jayce, Lyric and Maverick and his siblings, Greg (Roxanne) Kerkvliet of Bryant, Brenda (Wade) Wicks of Carpenter, Brian (Shelley) Kerkvliet of Sundance, WY and Michele (Steven) Birkholtz of Willow Lake. Also surviving him are Gloria's children, Cheryl (Mike) Albin and Dawn Downs & Shawn (Virgie) Downs and Gloria's grandchildren, Danielle (Nick), Shawn and Jackie and a great-grandson, Conner. Furness Funeral Home of Clark served the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com.