Raymond Biberdorf

Raymond A. Biberdorf, age 96, Clark, died peacefully in the Golden Living Center at Clark on Friday, August 15, 2014. Visitation will be held on Monday, August 18, 2014 from 5-7 PM at the Furness Funeral Home at Clark and will continue after 9AM at the Church in Henry on Tuesday. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at 10:30 AM in the St. Paul's Lutheran Church - WELS at Henry with The Reverend Keith Petersen officiating. The organist will be Barb Hartley with the casketbearers being his grandchildren, Laura, Nick, Colette & Matt Owen, Jory, Margo & Caleb Maynard, Will Biberdorf, Chelsey Wiik, Leslie & Jared Brenden, Becky Winburn and Jamey Herr. Burial with full military honors provided by the American Legion Post #17 of Watertown and the South Dakota Army National Honor Guard will follow in the Lorinda Cemetery at Henry. He was born Raymond Abraham Biberdorf on February 12, 1918 at Fortuna, ND, the son of Arthur and Ernestine (Hein) Biberdorf. As a young boy the family moved to a farmstead west of Henry, SD. Raymond attended county school, then Henry High School, graduating in 1935. After his schooling he worked various odd jobs, and then moved to Cicero, IL, near Chicago, where he worked as an auto mechanic, in fact, working on some of the notorious mob cars over the years, and often telling when he delivered the car, he had to wear white overalls. Raymond returned home and joined the Army Air Corp in December of 1941. He was one of five brothers to all serve in the armed forces. He was sent to Sheppard Field, Texas to receive training as an airplane mechanic. Raymond served in Rome-Arno, southern France, Air Offensive Europe, Tunisia, Sicily, and Naples-Foggia. He met with his brother Gerhard in Italy and within a month, Gerhard was killed by a sniper. After his honorable discharge in September of 1945, he returned to Henry and took over the family farm. On October 19, 1946 he was united in marriage to Cleo Swisher in Henry and together they raised five children. Raymond will long be remembered for helping family and neighbors with repairs, he could always find a way to fix most anything with whatever he had on hand! Cleo passed away in February of 2006 after enjoying 59 years together. He was a lifelong member of the American Legion, served on the Elrod Township Board for many years, and helped the Lorinda Cemetery Association for many years as well. He was a member of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church - WELS at Henry where he had served as a council member, Sunday School teacher, choir and also was the Mr. Fix-it man. He retired from farming in 2002 but continued to plant and care for his large garden. He moved into the Fay Wookey Memorial Assisted Living Center at Clark in 2010 and recently into the Golden Living Center in Clark where he lived until his death. Preceding him in death were his parents, his wife, Cleo, two brothers, Gerhardt and Carl, three sisters, Luverna (Ralph) Snover, Betty (Clarence) Bieberdorf, and Gloria (Art) Puls, and a son-in-law, Tom Brenden. Grateful for having shared in his life are his children, Linda (Gary) Owen, Myrna Brenden all of Henry, Nancy (Marlin) Maynard and Gary (Kelly) Biberdorf all of Clark and Carla (Gene) Herr of Aberdeen, two brothers, Bernard of Fishers Grove, IN and John of Palo Alto, CA, 13 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com