Click Here to View the Mass and Rosary for Vern

Vern Goeres, age 78, of Morristown, SD, passed away at Sanford Health in Bismarck, ND, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.

The rosary service for Vern will be held at 11:30 a.m. followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 12:00 p.m. noon on Friday, August 29, 2025 at the St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lemmon, SD.  Fr. Adam Hofer will officiate with burial in the Goeres Family Cemetery at a later date.  Military Honors will be afforded by the Smith-Lyman American Legion Post #279 of Thunderhawk, SD.

Vern Leo Goeres was born August 2, 1946, to John W. and Laurentina (Schmitz) Goeres in the original house-hospital in Elgin, North Dakota. He attended various country schools including Pretty Rock, St. Gertrude's, and St. Mary's—with the most memorable being Pretty Rock where his brother Chuck was kicked out of for "suspicious behavior," and the teacher said, "take your little brother too!". This led to a three-day hideout in a culvert to avoid the consequences at home. Obviously, they were caught!

After the sudden death of his father, when Vern was 12, his mother Laurentina moved him and his four brothers to Lemmon. Vern lived with Marvin and Bea Baumeister during this impressionable time and always considered Bea to be a second mother.

Vern attended Lemmon High School through his freshman year and proudly considered himself an honorary member of the Class of 1964. After school, he and Chuck traveled to Oregon for work in sawmills and other labor jobs. When Vern was of age, he joined the National Guard and attended basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, MO. He attended AIT at Ft Riley, KS, where he was trained as a truck mechanic. Vern went back to Oregon and met and fell in love with his all-time favorite redhead, Georgene Medford Dugan. They married in April 1968, and Vern adopted her two children, James Patrick and Kelly Jean, in 1970. In 1972, their son John David was born.

While living in Oregon, Vern worked as a stuntman and driver for Stunts Unlimited and 20th Century Fox. He worked on films such as Rooster Cogburn and Emperor of the North, performing alongside legends like John Wayne, Ernest Borgnine, Katharine Hepburn, and Lee Marvin. One of his prized possessions was a golden mug from John Wayne inscribed, "To Vern, From The Duke." One of his biggest regrets was declining an offer from Lee Marvin to go deep sea fishing in Hawaii.

The family later moved to Arizona, where Vern began his career as a sideboom operator on pipelines, eventually leading them to Alaska to work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Vern always said that all of his years of traveling led him to work in every single state west of the Mississippi with the exception of Hawaii. The years in Alaska were among his and Georgene's favorites. These years were filled with hunting, fishing, and raising their children in the great outdoors. In 1977, Vern moved the family back to South Dakota and bought land east of Lemmon. He wanted Georgene to have a home to raise the family, and for the children to be able to complete their schooling with more consistency. He continued pipeline work in Alaska until a serious back injury in 1978 ended his sideboom career.

Vern was extremely proud of his Alaska earnings—particularly his savings from the Alaska boom. After over a year in traction in an Alaskan hospital and a debilitating back injury, Vern had to find a new way to provide for the family. He refused to go on welfare. Vern—while still in a body cast—launched new ventures. He opened Vern's Discount Gas in North Lemmon in 1979 and started V&C Backhoe Service. Finally, in 1987, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of owning the Goeres family farm near Elgin. It was something he had wanted since he was a young boy. Eventually, he sold the gas station to focus on farming full-time. He and Georgene enjoyed years of raising livestock, gardening, and all the things that come with managing a farm.

In retirement, Vern and Georgene enjoyed winters traveling south in their motorhome, visiting family, friends, and new places. Vern learned to fly a power parachute and loved metal detecting for gold in the desert.

Prior to Georgene's passing in 2016, Vern's son John and his family returned home to the family farm—a lifelong dream of Vern's to keep the farm in the family and continue the legacy. After Georgene passed, and with John managing the farm, Vern lived out his years there.

A self-taught mechanic and local historian, Vern could fix just about anything. One could say he was frugal—because it might not be appropriate to say "too cheap" to hire it done if he could do it himself! It was a philosophy he lived by. Vern never met a stranger. He absolutely loved visiting with people and was a walking local historian. He had a gift and a passion for remembering people, dates, and stories—and sharing them with joy. He had many lifelong friendships near and far and so appreciated them all.

Vern is survived by his daughter, Kelly (Dana) Fitzgerald of Milesville, SD, and son, John (Julie) Goeres of Elgin, ND; five grandchildren: Emilie (Tyler) Hesby, Zachary (MJ) Baxter, John Logan Goeres, Jorja Goeres, and Jadyn Goeres; and four great-grandchildren: Avery, Hattie, and Ramsie Hesby, and Waylon James Baxter. He is also survived by three nephews and a niece: Ronnie Goeres, Crystal Green, Edward Goeres, and Verlyn Goeres.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Georgene; his parents; his son James; and his siblings Chuck, Audrey, Loren, Ross and Anton Goeres.