March 18, 1940 – October 25, 2020
Mass of Christian Burial for LeRoy Reinert, 80, of Timber Lake was held Tuesday, November 3, 2020 at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Timber Lake. Burial was at the Timber Lake Cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge.
LeRoy passed away Sunday, October 25, 2020 at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen.
Leroy Reinert was born March 18, 1940 in Tipton, KS, the fifth of nine children of Frank and Helena Reinert. They moved to Owanka, SD in 1946. LeRoy attended eight years of grade school there and two years of high school in New Underwood. The family then moved to a small farm north of Isabel where LeRoy finished his schooling, graduating from Isabel High School in 1958.
On December 22, 1961 he married Shirley Shaff in Isabel at St. Mary's Catholic Church. LeRoy and Shirley had three children, LeRoy Jr. (“Lee,”) Ben and Patsy.
LeRoy worked as a lineman putting in the transmission line from Eagle Butte to Newell and for the missile sites in the area. He worked for the Western Cattle Company at the B.J. Ranch in Howes until President Kennedy was killed and the company was sold off. He worked for ranchers in the area until he went to work for the Dewey County Highway Department, working there for several years.
LeRoy and Shirley then moved their family to Timber Lake, buying their farm from LeRoy's widowed mother. He started out in the engineering department of the South Dakota Department of Transportation and retired 25 years later as the supervisor of the Isabel Department.
Throughout the years, Leroy learned many different traits. If asked how he knew how to do something, he would always respond, "trial and error." One could always find him outside working on something or other as he always had a project he was doing. Leroy enjoyed farming, working cattle, breaking and riding horses, and later in life being around and spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
LeRoy and Shirley raised three of their grandchildren as if they were their own, T.J., Kimberly and Trista. He often said that his grandchildren and great-grandchildren kept him young. He enjoyed going to their activities and teaching them his many self-learned traits.
LeRoy is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Shirley; his three children: Lee (Cathy), Ben (Janice) and Patsy, seven grandchildren: T.J., Kimberly, Trista (Brandon), Zane, Carmen, Kayla, and Ben (Montana); five great-grandchildren: MaKia, Etzio, Elias, Kiya, and Tucker; his siblings: Fritz (Ruth), Marcella, Pauline (Gary), Anita, Roberta, and Delores; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents and two of his sisters, Barb and Agnes.
(Shirley Reinert’s address is 13447 247th Ave., Timber Lake, SD 57656.)