John Edward Grismer

John E. Grismer, age 65, Henry, died in the Prairie Lakes Hospital at Watertown on Sunday, December 11, 2016 after a long illness.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, December 15, 2016 from 5-7PM with a Liturgical Wake service at 7PM all in the St. Henry Catholic Church at Henry. The Reverend Daniel Smith will lead the wake service with John's sister, Margaret Mitzel leading the rosary. Visitation will continue on Friday morning after 10AM in the Church.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11AM on Friday, December 16, 2016 in the St. Henry Catholic Church at Henry with The Reverend Daniel Smith celebrating. Dorothy Fuller will be the organist. All friends and family should consider themselves as honorary casketbearers. The active casketbearers will be Jeremy Kaiser, John was his confirmation sponsor, Reid Kaiser and Mike Mitzel, both are John's Godchildren, and John's brothers, Ray, Ed, and Paul Grismer. Burial will be July 2, 2017 at 11AM in the Greenwood Cemetery at Blue Rapids, KS.

He was born John Edward Grismer on May 5, 1951 at Aberdeen, one of 13 children born to Edward and Mary (Blossey) Grismer. His family moved to the Hosmer area when he was three. John was asked to start school one year early so he could help another student with English, because the child only spoke German. John did and then graduated a year early, when he was 16, from Hosmer High School.

John continued working on the family farm near Hosmer after high school, farming and milking. He met Dianne Snow in 1974 and they were married on June 6, 1975 in the St. John the Baptist Church at Onaka, SD. They continued living on the family farm near Hosmer until moving to a farm north of Henry in 1982.

He lived and worked on the farm until beginning employment with McCain Foods in Clark where he worked for 15 years. After the plant closed he worked in Watertown at various places including the Human Services Agency, and OEM, until health issues forced his retirement in 2009. He has continued to live in his home in Henry.

He was a member of the St. Henry Church. John had many hobbies including fishing, deer and pheasant hunting in earlier years, and visiting, knowing no strangers. He also enjoyed countless hours of woodworking, making things for the grandchildren. Second to none though was his love of gardening and canning, making everything from salsa to pickles to canning and smoking of meat when the garden was empty. He loved to share it with others too.

Preceding him in death were his parents and a grandson, Palmer Lees. Also preceding are numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

Grateful for having shared in his life is his wife Dianne of Henry, daughters, Jenny (Scott) Lees of Blue Rapids, KS and Becky (Dan) Swenson of Spearfish, SD, 3 grandchildren, Spencer, Chase and Brooke and siblings, Margaret (Clarence) Mitzel of Aberdeen, Barbara (Larry) Hallauer of Moore, OK, Jim Grismer of Aberdeen, Mary Kay (Luke Stanfield) Boone of Huntsville, AL, Jake Grismer of Warden, WA, LeRoy (Jill) Grismer of Charlotte, NC, Robert (Terri) Grismer of Dothan, AL, Edward (Lisa) Grismer of Rockdale, TX, Ray (Sandy) Grismer of Renner, Paul (Jane) Grismer of Edmond, OK, Laura (Jack) Juve of North Branch, MN, and Christina Linthorne of Aberdeen and a host of cousins.

The Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com