Dean Branine

Dean Branine, 88, of Holabird, passed away Saturday, February 18, 2017 at Yuma Regional Medical Center, Yuma, AZ.

Funeral service was held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, March 4, 2017 at the United Methodist Church, Highmore. Burial followed at the Highmore Cemetery. Visitation began at 6:30 p.m., Friday, March 3, 2017 followed by a 7:00 p.m. prayer service, all at the church.

Dean was born Kenneth Dean Branine to Guy and Elizabeth (Clayton) Branine in Cheney, Kansas on March 16, 1928. During his teenage years, Dean worked with his father in the local blacksmith shop where he learned how to repair or rebuild many items. He told many stories of sharpening plow lathes for days on end!

Dean and Alice (Wohlschlegel) were married on February 25, 1951, in Harper, Kansas and became a complete family when Karol, Kenny and Kay joined the family.

Dean moved to the Holabird, South Dakota area in 1948 to start his farming career. After they were married, he and Alice would farm during the spring, summer and fall and travel back to Kansas in the winter months. Dean and Alice were partners, not only in life, but in the farm and in the raising of their three children. Dean’s passion in life was farming. He loved to sit on a tractor to work the ground or a combine to bring the harvest home! His other passions were hunting, fishing, bowling and golfing. When Dean and Alice decided that they would try to get out of the South Dakota cold around 1990, you could find them travelling to the warmer climates and eventually landed at Cocopah RV & Golf Resort in Yuma, Arizona, where Dean became an avid golfer. He got his first and only hole-in-one on the 1st tee at the Cocopah Golf Course! They made many dear friends at their winter home in Yuma.

Dean is survived by his son, Kenny and his wife Sandy of Harrold, SD; his daughter, Kay and her husband Steve Gill of Marshfield, MO; his grandchildren: Clayton Pykiet and his wife Jessica of Wichita, KS; Andrew Pykiet of Tulsa, OK; Cody Grindle, of Liberal, KS; Alicia Perry and her husband, Derick of Wichita, KS; and Shawn Branine of Harrold, SD; his great-grandchildren: Audrie Grindle, Zane Pykiet, Riley Pykiet; and many nieces and nephews.

Dean was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Alice in 2015; his daughter, Karol in 2016; his siblings and their spouses: Mardell and Andy Lessenden, Clyde and Betty Branine, Naomi and Aubrey Pouncey, Ruth and James Pouncey, and Elmer and Jackie Branine; and nephew, Courtney Branine.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be donated to the Hyde County Senior Center, 103 Iowa Ave., S, Highmore, SD 57345

Luze Funeral Home of Highmore has been entrusted with Dean’s arrangements.