Funeral services for Rev. Wilber Niermeier, age 89, of Morristown, SD, will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday August 20, 2014 at the Christ Lutheran Church in Morristown, SD, with the Rev. Gerhardt Juergens officiating. Burial will be in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Ludell, KS.


Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon.


Wilber Theodore Neirmeier was born on April 25, 1925, in Ludell, KS, the youngest of nine children born to Henry and Anna (Holste) Niermeier. He grew up near Ludell and attended school and high school there. He met Johannah Hanson while working at a Walther League Camp. Following her graduation from High School, they were married and moved to downtown Chicago for Wilber's vicarage. To this union, three children were born, Rodney, Michael and Barbara.


Following his year of vicarage, Wilber returned to Springfield, IL for his final year of seminary and worked a variety of part-time jobs. He graduated in 1950 and answered a call to a dual parish in Clinton and Creighton, MO. In 1956 he moved, with his wife and three children, to Zion Lutheran Church in Chanute, KS. Wilber also served congregations in Alicevile and Columbus, KS during vacancies.


After 9 ½ years in Chanute, Wilber took a call to Harrisonville, MO at the Our Savior Lutheran Church. This began his 24 year ministry in Harrisonville, just 40 miles northwest of his first parish in Clinton. Many of his first confirmations, marriages and baptisms, were now charter members of his church in Harrisonville. During this time, he pastored churches in St. Joseph, Columbia, Neosho, Norborne, Joplin and Springfield, MO as well as Overland Park, KS.


In 1990 Wilber and Johannah took a semi-retirement call to Morristown, SD. He retired there after 50 plus years as a pastor. Wilber enjoyed fishing, traveling, especially in their RV, and visiting friends. In his early years as a pastor, he took an Art Course on Norman Rockwell style painting, and enjoyed that when time allowed.


Wilber passed away on Thursday evening, August 14, 2014 at the Five Counties Nursing Home in Lemmon, SD.


He is survived by his wife, Johanna Neirmeier, Morristown, SD; two sons, Rodney (Jean) Neirmeier, Belton, MO and Michael Neirmeier, Holden, MO; one son-in-law, Gary Miller, Mandan, ND; seven grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.


He was preceded in death by his parents; one daughter, Barbara Jo Miller; five brothers and three sisters.


In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Great Plains Lutheran High School in Watertown, SD.