Funeral services for Emil Hofer, age 95, longtime Meadow farmer and rancher, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lemmon. Pastor Frank Gantt will officiate with burial in Gallaway Cemetery at Meadow.


A family service will be held at 7:00 p.m on Tuesday evening at the Evanson-Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon.


Special music will be provided by Rhonda Tomac, organist; Luther Schoon, soloist; and Chad Abel, drumist.


Serving as casketbearers are Ray Schopp, Gary Hartung, Lonnie Hall, Gary Daley, Jerry Petik, Glenn Hetzel. All family and friends are considered honorary bearers.


A memorial has been established.


EMIL HOFER was born July 9, 1914, at Java, SD. He was the fifth of six children born to Michael and Elizabeth (Singer) Hofer. In 1916, the Hofer family moved and homesteaded on the Twin Buttes Ranch near Athboy, SD. He attended Twin Butte School until the eighth grade, when he agreed to stay at home and work to allow his older sister, Emma, to attend a special high school in North Dakota for handicapped children. Emil participated in numerous rodeos, riding bucking horses and steers. In addition to working hard on the family ranch, Emil played the drums in several dance bands. He continued playing the drums through February of this year. Around 1933, Emil met Anna Adamek at a dance at the Tidball Ranch. They dated for five years and were married on July 30, 1938 in Bison, SD. After the wedding, they went back to the Hofer homestead near the Athboy, Meadow area to start their new life. There they raised their two children, Len and Duane.


Emil was the first President of the Black Horse Creek Saddle Club, which was instrumental in the founding of the first Boss Cowman Rodeo. Emil was "Boss Cowman" during the annual celebration in 1988. He was the first Twin Butte Township Clerk and served in numerous capacities in his community including the rural school board, a Director of Grand River Grazing Association, was involved with AAA Ag measuring fields, the Civil Defense Director and Radio Operator for over 30 years, Basin Electric Director, Moreau Grand Electric Director for 21 years, 30 years as Secretary/Treasurer of the Glad Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Director of West River Telephone Company from 1961 to 1981. He was inducted into the South Dakota Firefighters Hall of Honor in 1995. He was a member of St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church.


Emil and Anna loved to travel. They spent winters in Arizona which became their second home for many years. After Emil lived 85 years of his life in same house on the Hofer homestead, Emil and Anna moved into the HUD in Lemmon in 1999, then into the Prairie Rose Assisted Living and later Five Counties Nursing Home. His wife, Anna passed away on June 12, 2007. Emil passed away on Saturday morning, October 17, 2009.


Surviving family members include his two sons and daughters-in-law, Len and Darlys Hofer, who are 3rd generation ranchers who still reside on the Hofer homestead at Meadow, SD; Duane and Frankie Hofer, Rapid City, SD; three grandchildren, Doug Hofer, McIntosh, SD; Kim (Gary) Hartung, Rozet, WY; and Krista Hofer, Rapid City, SD; two sisters-in-law, Anne Adamek, San Diego, CA; and Marie Daley, Lemmon, SD.


Emil was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Anna, 2 brothers, Emanuel Hofer in infancy, and John Hofer; and 3 sisters, Bertha Schroeder, Emma DeMangelaere, and Violet Schatz.


Visitation will be Tuesday from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m., at the Evanson-Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon and on Wednesday one hour prior to services at St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church.