Earl Fero, age 87, passed away peacefully Sunday, July, 12, 2015 at his home with his family beside him.

A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Bison, SD on Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 2:00 pm with Florence Hoff officiating. Following the service the inurnment of ashes will be at the Chance Cemetery.


Earl Dean Fero was born on August 12, 1927 at Thunder Hawk, SD to Dwight and Bessie (Rice) Fero, the second of six children. He attended Orange country school, Thunder Hawk grade school and graduated from Lemmon High School in 1946.

On October 26, 1949 he married Clarissa (Pat) Clark in Lemmon, SD at his grandparent's home. They moved to Pat's parent's ranch south of Bison in 1951. To this union two children were born, Susan and Jerry. After suffering with cancer for two years Pat passed away in February 1962.

Earl became mother and dad to his two children, having to learn to do all the motherly and household things besides run the ranch. With the help of his children, Grandfather George Clark, who lived with them, he succeeded with great results.

On October 26, 1968 he married Lorraine Wilson from Red Bluff, CA. They built their new home on the ranch and started their life together.

In 1980, they semi-retired to Lorraine's place in Red Bluff, CA, returning to SD in the summertime to help with haying.

Their love of traveling and seeing new sights led them to travel with a 5th wheel camper trailer for 15 years. They visited all 50 states, Canada, Mexico and even took a cruise down the Panama Canal.

In 1993 they settled down in Rimrock, AZ where Earl's brother Terry and sister Ione lived. They quickly became very involved members of the Beaver Creek Baptist Church. Earl held the position of Deacon for many years and was lead maintenance man of the church. He took great pride in the landscaping of the church property. He planted a rose garden, honey suckle hedge, buried irrigation pipe and helped with the many additions to the church. He was greatly loved and respected by the other deacons and parishioners. The church was his life in the later years. He was always there to help anyone that needed help with any fix-it project. He also enjoyed harvesting vegetables and fruit from his own garden and fruit trees and tending to his rose bushes.

He was preceded in death by his parents Dwight and Bessie Fero, wife Clarissa (Pat), two sisters Martha Duquette and Ione Fernau and two brothers Jim and Terry Fero.

Holding him in their fondest memories are his wife Lorraine, Rimrock, AZ; daughter Susan (Ordean) Stern, South Shore, SD; son Jerry (Paulette) Fero, Meadow, SD; grandchildren Sally (Mark) Kranz, Watertown, SD; Craig (Nanny) Stern, New Hope, MN; Michael Manson, Illinois; Dan (Emie) Fero, NYA, MN; Stacey (Kent) Wood, Nashville, TN; great grandchildren Evelyn, Clara, Annabell Kranz; Austin, Beau, Alec Stern, Sami Jensen; Mariah and Ethan Manson; Emily and Brent Fero, Dominic and Dylan Kromarck; Jaxson Wood and one sister Carmen (Guy) Jones, Redding, CA.