Dean Martin, age 86 of Box Elder, SD; formerly of Lemmon, SD; passed away on Thursday, morning, February 13, 2020.

The Memorial Service for Dean will be held at 11:00am MT, Saturday, February 22, 2020 at Indian Creek Lutheran Church near Meadow with Pastor Harold Delbridge, officiating.  Full military honors will be afforded by the Brattvet-Green American Legion Post #66 of Lemmon.

Albert "Dean" Martin was born on June 13, 1933 in Coal Springs, SD to John and Olga (Johnson) Martin.  He attended grade school and helped on the farm.  Dean joined the U.S. Navy and served aboard the USS Boyd during the Korean War for "20 months and 9 days."  He returned to South Dakota and later married Linda Lorenz on June 13, 1963.  They had 3 children, Deann, Dean (Butch), and Jodi.

Dean worked at Phil's Truck Stop, on state highway crews, at the Great Plains Lumber Yard in Lemmon, and at Shadehill for the Park Service.  He completed many "projects" on weekends and evenings. If you were a friend or the friend of a friend and you needed a project done that required heavy muscle, he was your man. If you had known him for long you or your parents probably have a deck or a remodel that he worked on. He moved to Rapid City in 2008 to be closer to his grandchildren.

Dean enjoyed playing cards, watching TV, (MASH, Golden Girls, Family Fued, and of course the News several times a day). He had daily phone calls to various friends and family that you could use to set your watch. Dean enjoyed playing 6, 5, 4 and Rummy with his greatest pride and joy—his grandchildren.

Dean was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer in January of 2019.  Through his fight he kept his dry sense of humor and joked with Jodi about "dropping his sandwich" if anything spilled during a tube feeding. He only commented a couple of times, "I sure would like to have some of that" when he knew his favorite foods were available.

When told he needed to wear sweatpants or scrub pants, he said, "Well, I guess that's ok.  I don't have to look cute!"

Dean is survived by his 3 children, Deann (Larry) Davidson, Rapid City, SD; Butch, Bismarck, ND; Jodi (Cliff) Mills, Box Elder, SD; his grandchildren; Miranda, Marina, Marcus, Thomas, Jordan, and Nathan; brothers-in-law, Tony Lorenz, Roger Lorenz, Jim Lorenz, Richard Lorenz; and sisters- in- law, Rose Martin, Lilian Martin, Sandy Radke, Sharon Valance, Judy Mason, Nancy Lipkins, and Helen Schiable; and many, many, many nieces and nephews including lots of "greats".

He was preceded in death by Linda; his parents, John and Olga; 6 brothers, Maynard, Lowell, Floyd, Roland "Bud", John, Alvin; and 4 sisters, Vivian Hulm, Marcella Norman, Eulala Lensegrav, and Verna Christman.

Visitation will be on Friday from 4:00 to 7:00pm at the Evanson-Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon.