Thomas Bjerke

Thomas Garrett Bjerke, son of Gary and Cathy (Reppe) Bjerke, rural Bradley, died on February 26, 2011 near DeSmet, SD. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 10:30 AM in the St. Michaels Catholic Church at Clark with the Reverend Bill Hamak officiating. Music will be provided by Diane Varilek as organist, Brenda LaBrie and Trevor Forest as song leaders with Trevor singing a solo as well. The casketbearers will be James Luckhurst, James Dekker, Thomas Lamb, Matt Lenzen, Jacob Harrington, Bryce Lynch, Wilkes Obermeier and Alex Reppe. Honorary Casketbearers will be his first cousins, Shane, Heidi, Sara, Amanda, Nicole, Steven, Travis, Tanya, Troy, Tara, Adam, Riley, Harley, Blake and Serena as well as all friends and family. Burial will take place in the St. Thomas Cemetery near Crocker. Following the interment, all are invited to go to the Bradley Community Center for a dinner and a time of fellowship with the family. Visitation will be held on Friday from 4-7 PM with a time of sharing at 6PM all in the Furness Funeral Home Chapel at Clark and at the Church after 9 AM on Saturday morning. He was born on December 28, 1988 at the Memorial Hospital in Watertown. He grew up in the Bradley/Crocker communities. Thomas was baptized at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Lily and confirmed, taking on the name, St. Hubert "The Hunter" at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Clark. He graduated from Clark High School in 2007. Thomas was in his 4th year at South Dakota State University in Brookings majoring in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. He was planning on going for one more year for Range Management as he saw the importance of habitat for wildlife survival. His summer jobs included working for Dennis Olson Trucking, L & E Tree Service, and the Bramble Park Zoo and for the past two summers he worked for the Game, Fish and Parks in Day County. At a very young age he fell in love with the outdoors and the sport of hunting. Sitting is a tree stand for hours with his bow, setting up decoys in the dark, calling in a coyote and a stick on the ice taught him patience, perseverance and persistence to name a few. His youth involved playing baseball with the Bradley Little League, Conde Midgets and the Clark Teeners. For the last few summers he very much enjoyed playing 5 x 5 softball in Bradley. He followed the Minnesota Twins faithfully. Most of all though he loved spending time with friends and family. Grateful for having shared in his life are his parents, Gary and Cathy Bjerke, a brother Tanner all of Bradley, his maternal grandmother, Donna Reppe of Crocker, his paternal grandmother, Louise Bjerke of Clark, maternal aunts and uncles, Steve Reppe of Crocker, Patty (Elwood) Peterson of Bradley, Dan (Tammy) Reppe of Conde, Bill Reppe of Bradley, Janet (Doug) Lynch) of Webster, Christine (Bob) Meier of Doland, Carrie Reppe of Watertown and Ted (Jody) Obermeier of Clark, paternal aunts and uncles, Kathy (Laird) Larson of Clark and Janet (Tony) Fromdahl of Oregon and many cousins. Preceding him in death was his maternal grandfather, Lyle Reppe, paternal grandfather, Oscar Bjerke, and his maternal aunt, Lorie Obermeier. In lieu of flowers, memorial would be appreciated to the St. Thomas Catholic Cemetery at Crocker c/o Furness Funeral Home, 402 N. Commercial Street, Clark, SD 57225 Arrangements announced by the Furness Funeral Home at Clark where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com