Leonard Balsiger

Leonard Frederick Balsiger, 89, passed away peacefully at Brookview Manor Nursing home in Brookings, South Dakota on December 16, 2004. A private burial will take place at the Redfield Cemetery for family members. A memorial service to celebrate Leonards life will be held at 2:00 PM on January 2, 2005 at the United Methodist Church in Garden City, South Dakota. The Furness Funeral Home of Clark is handling the arrangements. Mr. Balsiger was born on November 4, 1915 at Redfield, South Dakota to Frederick Jacob and Marian Belle Hoff Balsiger. He graduated from Redfield High School in 1933 where he was active in oratory, glee club, band, and editor of the school paper. He married Sarah Margaret Allbee Balsiger on May 29, 1938 in Mellette, South Dakota, and they had four children. He received his bachelors and masters degrees at Northern State Teachers College. His forty-one years in education were spent in Amherst, Bristol, Warner, Pierre and Doland as a teacher, counselor and administrator. During his five years in the State Department of Education, he was chairman of the committee that rewrote accreditation standards for all South Dakota schools, and he served as chairman of the North Central Accreditation Committee that obtained the first junior high accreditation in South Dakota. He was a member of SDEA, NEA, NRA, Chairman of the Clark County Weed board, and he and his wife were active in the Garden City Methodist Church. In 1976 he retired and they moved to a farm near Bradley, South Dakota, homesteaded in 1890 by Margarets family. They remodeled the existing home and planted over ten thousand trees through the years. Leonard enjoyed writing songs and poetry, many of which have been published and used around the state. He entertained over one hundred different groups in his retirement years. Survivors include Redetta (Roy) Jensen of Sioux Falls, Marlenna (Darwin) Walker of Brookings, Dean (Peggy) Balsiger of Brookings, Alan (Evelyn) Balsiger of Fountain Inn, South Carolina, nine grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and his brother Richard (Winnie) Balsiger of Portland, Oregon. He was preceded in death by his wife, one sister and one brother.