Funeral service for Gary Alan Foss, 66, longtime White Butte area farmer and rancher will be held on Monday, June 28, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. at the Calvary Lutheran Church in Lemmon, SD. Rev. Marjorie Hershey will officiate and burial will follow at the Greenhill Cemetery in Lemmon. Visitations will be from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Sunday, June 27 at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home with a gathering of family and friends at 5:00 p.m. at the Funeral Home. Visitation will continue on Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service at the church on Monday afternoon.

GARY ALAN FOSS was born on October 9, 1943 in Lemmon, SD to Kenneth and Elsie (Anderson) Foss. He was raised on the family farm south of White Butte, SD and graduated from Lemmon High School in 1961. Gary worked for Reiny Christman doing electrical work and then worked for Phil Haag at the truck stop. He then drove truck for Melvin Stewart in Morristown, SD.


He married LaVonne Christianson at Hettinger, ND on July 20, 1963. They lived on the family farm where Gary farmed with his dad. After Ken passed away in 1966, Gary's brother, Larry joined him and they started Foss Brothers Farming and Ranching. Gary and LaVonne raised two sons, Gary Alan, II and Richard Kenneth. He enjoyed taking his boys hunting and taught them how to run all the machinery and how to appreciate and respect the land and people.


Gary enjoyed spending all the time he could with his two grandsons and was so proud of all his boys. Gary also enjoyed farming and ranching and in his spare time he liked to work crossword puzzles and Sudoku's.


Gary was diagnosed with cancer on April 20, 2009 and courageously fought that battle until Monday, June 21, 2010 when he passed away with his family at his side at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, ND.


He will be missed the most by his wife, LaVonne, their sons, Gary (Faye) Foss, of Bismarck, ND and Rick Foss, of Lemmon, SD; his two grandsons, Gunnar and Thomas Foss; step granddaughter, Alicia Cuny; step great-granddaughter, Vanessa Cuny; his brother, Larry (Marlys) Foss, Lemmon and their families; his half sister, Connie (Maris) Williams, Aberdeen, SD; his mother-in-law, Clara Christianson, Hettinger, ND; three sisters-in-law, Lynda (Irvin) Goetz, Westminster, MD, Ardell (Lew) Samdal, Puyallup, WA and Karen Fandrich, Hettinger and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.


Gary was preceded in death by his grandparents, Emil and Elin Anderson and Floyd and Grace Foss and Asa and Jessie Winters, his parents, Kenneth and Elsie Foss and Carol Foss and one sister in infancy.