Funeral services for John O. Randen, age 94, longtime Lemmon area mechanic, will be at 11:00 a.m. Monday, May 4, 2009 at Calvary Lutheran Church in Lemmon with Pastor Ken Miller, officiating.


Burial will be in the Rosebud Cemetery with full military honors afforded by the Brattvet-Green American Legion Post #66 of Lemmon. Taps to be sounded by Melissa Nehl and Kent Maier.


Special music will be provided by Marilyn Willey.


Serving as casketbearers are Doug Ham, Kerry and Kevin Dangerud, Ray Seidel, Lyle and Keith Randen, Gary and Mike Johnson. Serving as honorary bearers are Melvin Haugen, Ted Hochhalter, Larry Moser, Fred Gebhardt, and Horace Seim.


JOHN OLAF RANDEN was born August 12, 1914 in a sod house by the South Grand River in the Pleasant Ridge area to Mathias and Annette (Bye) Randen. He grew up on a farm and attended West Roosevelt School through the 10th grade. Following his schooling, he began working on the family farm and in the CCC Camps. He also worked in the Haynes Coal Mine.


He was inducted into the United States Army on 9 June 1942 at Ft. Snelling, MN. Prior to his basic training, he was allowed a 10 day leave to settle his personal affairs. He married Hilma Johnson, his sweetheart of three years, on June 17, 1942. Days later he was off to Camp Roberts in California for Basic training and field artillery training. After Basic Training he was assigned to CO F 335 Engineering Battalion and was shipped overseas, arriving in NATO on 13 April 1943. He participated in Campaigns in Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He was entitled to wear the European-African, Middle Eastern Theater Ribbons and the Good Conduct Medal. John was honorably discharged on 17 November 1945 at the Seperation Center Camp in McCoy, WI.


He returned to his home in Lemmon, SD and began his life with his wife Hilma. John opened Randen's Wheel Alignment, an auto mechanic and wheel alignment shop, which he operated until retiring. He will always be remembered as an honest, hard-working, and compassionate man. He always took the time to help others, no matter if they were a family member, friend, or customer.


John like fishing and hunting, especially turkeys, and even hunted on his own during the 2008 turkey season. He was also a staunch Republican, an avid NY Yankees fan, a Ford man, and a John Wayne fan. He was a lifelong member of Calvary Lutheran Church.


John passed away Friday morning, May 1, 2009 at the Western Horizons Care Center in Hettinger, ND at the age of 94 years, 8 months, 19days.


Grateful for having shared in his life are his wife of nearly 67 years, Hilma, Lemmon, SD; one brother and sister-in-law, Martin and Nellie Randen, Cloverdale, CA; two sisters, Marie Jorgensen, Scappoose, OR and Myrtle Dangerud, Hettinger, ND; one brother-in-law and four sisters-in-law, John and Shirley Johnson, White Butte, SD, Martina Ham, Shadehill, SD, Esther Johnson, Lemmon, SD and Muriel Seidel, Bismarck, ND; and numerous special nieces and nephews; their special "grandchildren" Cody, Melissa, Alicia, Colt, and Jessica and Jeanna Nehl who died in infancy in 1995.


He was preceded in death by his parents, four brothers, Bennie, Sanford, Trygve, and Melvin Randen; two sisters, Bertha Davis and Thelma Metzger.

Visitation will be on Sunday, May 3, 2009 from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Evanson-Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon and one hour prior to the services at the church on Monday.