Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

Harold John Wetz

Harold John Wetz was born on Dec. 13, 1922, in Sturgis, S.D., at the home of his maternal grandparents, to Gerald Wetz and Amelia (Schaff) Wetz. He grew up on the family ranch east of Vale, S.D., along the Belle Fourche River. He attended school at the Wetz School through the eighth grade and then ranched with his father until his marriage to the school teacher, Sylvia Dobyns, on June 5, 1946. The newlyweds lived on the farm west of Vale where they farmed and he and Sylvia raised their growing family.

He ran a trucking business for a few years and then learned to shear sheep and ran a shearing crew for many years. He was well known for the quality work of his crew, which eventually included four of his sons, who carried on the tradition for several years. His legacy continues as a grandson still shears sheep.

In 1968, he and his family moved to Poplar. He began a new career in Montana with the Farmers Union Grain Elevators and worked at elevators in Poplar, Sprole, Circle and Glasgow, from where he retired in 1985.

After Sylvia retired from teaching school in Montana, they spent 19 winters in Arizona because he hated the cold weather.

He was active in the Nashua Senior Citizens and was selected as the outstanding senior citizen for Valley County in 1987. He was also active in the Nashua Lions Club for 25 years.

He loved to hunt and fish and spent many hours on Fort Peck Lake, where he continued the quest for the large walleye. One of his proudest moments of hunting was when he was 90 years old and hunted with four generations of his family.

In 2006, he and Sylvia moved to Spearfish, S.D., where they have resided since, first at the Redwood Apartments, the Edgewood Vista Assisted Living, and then he moved to the Dorsett Home, where he died on July 26, 2016, at the age of 93 years, seven months and 13 days.

Preceding him in death were his parents; three sisters, Julia, Dorothy and Geraldine; a brother, Gerald Jr .; and a grandson, Doug Kelley.

Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Sylvia, of Spearfish; seven children, Norman and his wife, Gloria Jean, of Glendale, Ariz., Kenneth and his wife, Donna, of Newell, S.D., Beth Kelley and her husband, Bill, of Simms, Mont., Roger and his wife, Carol, of Billings, Linda Dutton and her husband, Phillip, of Pauls Valley, Okla., Paul and his wife, Vicky, of Glasgow, and April Baker and her husband, Roy, of Vaughn; 18 grandchildren; 34 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; a sister, Helen Seitz of Washington; and two brothers, Jim of Colorado and Darrell of Montana.

Visitation was held from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, July 29, at the Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis.

Funeral services were held Saturday, July 30, at 10 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Spearfish. Burial was at the Vale Cemetery at 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 31.

A memorial has been established for the preservation of the Wetz School.

 

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