Rudes Funeral Home
Curtis Dean Eliason, 84, of Brookings, passed away Sunday, 20 December 2020 at 3:46 pm, at Brookings Heath System. Funeral services will be held at the LDS Church, Brookings, at 10:00 am Saturday, 26 December 2020, and will be livestreamed through the Rude's Funeral Home Facebook page. Graveside services will be at 3:00 pm, Saturday at the Gettysburg Cemetery. All friends and family are welcome to attend.
Curtis Dean Eliason Sr. was born on Easter Sunday, 12 April 1936, at Whitlock Crossing, Gettysburg, South Dakota to Joseph Loyd Eliason and Agnes Mae Pearson.
He graduated in 1954 from Gettysburg High School. He graduated from Southern State Teacher's College, Springfield SD with degrees in Auto Mechanics and Building Construction in 1956.
For two years he served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Southern California & Arizona. When he returned home, he joined the South Dakota Army National Guard and served six years from Jan 1959 - 1965. Church has always been important to him. He has served in various religious and teaching positions over the years. He worked for the Potter Co Highway Dept. from 1984-1989 then accepted a calling working for the church taking care of the maintenance on seven chapels in the area.
Soon after he started farming for himself in 1960, he met Dorothy Marian Lowry in Pierre when her dad worked on the Oahe Dam. They were married in Oroville, California on 4 Sept 1961 and sealed in the Salt Lake City Temple on 6 Sept 1961. They settled in farm life raising their seven kids: Donna Dean (Todd) Rozell, Mansfield, SD; Deborah Kay (Daniel) Cheney, Cache Valley, UT; Cheryl Louise (Jeff) Malsom, Ipswich,SD; Curtis Dean Jr (Connie), Howard, SD; Joseph Lee (Angie), Aberdeen, SD; Charles Edward (Krista), Madison, MN; and Bradley David (Molly), Brookings, SD; which gave them 26 grandkids and 2 great grandchildren.(So far! )
He belonged to the American Legion, Farm Bureau, and served on the Forrest City school district board, the district ASC committee board and Potter Co extension board throughout his life.
After retiring in 1998, he worked for the Potter County Weed Board, then Kermit Wager Construction, running a D8 Cat. Curt & Marian moved to Brookings when Marian took on a job with the SD 4H office at SDSU. He then worked for Ivan & Jane Sundal doing maintenance on rentals. He has always been on call to help neighbors & friends fix things.
Music has always been an important interest. Learning to play the piano by ear from his mother, then learned to play the accordion and the trombone in his high school band and all areas of vocal while in H.S. He sang with his mother at funerals and other occasions and enjoyed jamming with his Uncle Vern at Pearson get togethers.
He leaves his wife Marian of 59 years, his kids & grandkids. Preceding him in death was one grandchild and both his parents. He died on 20 December 2020 at 3:46 pm.
Condolences can be sent to the family through www.rudesfuneralhome.com
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