Rev. Robert "Bob" Boxrud, age 92, of Lemmon, SD, and Hettinger, ND, passed away on Thursday morning, March 18, 2021 at the Five Counties Nursing Home in Lemmon, SD.

Cremation has taken place and a memorial service will be held at a later date.

Robert Lloyd Boxrud was born on December 28, 1928 on a farm near Louisburg, Minnesota to Floyd and Edna (Myrum) Boxrud along with a twin brother, Richard Floyd.

He attended grade school at Louisburg and Bellingham and graduated from Appleton High School in 1946.

He served 2½ years in the Minnesota National Guard units at Madison and St Paul. Following a brief enlistment in the US Navy Air training program he was discharged with eye color deficiency.

He attended Concordia College, University of Minnesota and graduated with a B.A. degree from Augsburg College in Minneapolis in 1951. That same year he was accepted for training at the Luther Theological Seminary in St Paul.
While in College, he was active in the Lutheran Student Association serving as its president and also president of the Upper Midwest National association. He was awarded membership into the University of Minnesota Silver Spur Leadership Society.

On January 14, 1952 he married Jean Arlene Austin of Hager City, Wisconsin at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church in St. Paul. To this union was born four children: Mark, Lee Ann, Daniel, and Shelly.

Graduating from Seminary in 1954 he was ordained into the ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at the family's home church in Louisburg MN.

He went on to serve parishes in Sarles, ND, Watson, MN, Hettinger, ND, and Hastings, MN. Sarles and Hastings being new congregations.

In 1971 He joined the staff of United Medical Clinics in Hettinger, ND as counselor, which quickly expanded into administration duties where he remained until retirement in 1991. He was a 30-year member of the Medical Group Managers.
Through all this he also served 30 years as a representative on the Badlands Human Service Board in Dickinson, ND and in the ND AARP Association. Interested in government, he served as delegate to the States Silver Haired Legislature and on the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women in ND. Locally he spent time on the city council, The Hettinger Cemetery Association, Hettinger Lutheran Church, and the board of West River Health Services.

His love of preaching the word filled most of his "off time" and later years taking care of vacant or vacationing parishes in southwestern ND and northwestern SD, supplying interim parish ministries at Hettinger, ND and Lemmon, SD.

He loved ND, its prairie and its people. Their love for rural America, the land and each other. He loved fishing, hunting, and camping, from the Canadian wilderness to the lakeshores near Aitkin, MN. At home his many hobbies included woodworking, furniture making, carving, writing and reading. He always took pride in his yard and house, puttering around the potted plants and bird feeders.

He was the youngest and last of the siblings and was preceded in death by his parents Floyd and Edna Boxrud, twin brother Richard, of Louisburg, brother Rueben of Slayton MN, sister Dorothy (Halvorson) Pullman, WA, Olga (Swenson) Northfield, MN, Carol (Ilstrup) Onalaska, WI, sister Ruth Margaret in infancy, and daughter Shelly Kay (Johnson) Hettinger, ND.

He is survived by his wife of 69 years Jean, three children Mark (Jaci) Mora, MN, Lee Ann Lutz (Rodney) Rural Hettinger, ND, and Dan (Dawn) Hettinger, eleven grandchildren, and 18 (soon to be 19) great grandchildren, along with many nieces and nephews.

Memorials will be established at Badlands Ministries, Hettinger Lutheran Church, and West River Health Services.

Please join the family in a gathering for remembrance and story sharing to be held at the Hettinger Lutheran Church basement with coffee and bars provided. It will be open house style from 1 to 5pm, Sunday afternoon, April 11 ^th . 2021.