Jerry Kemp, 78, of Colome, South Dakota passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, at the Winner Regional Health Care Facility in Winner, South Dakota.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022 at 1 p.m. at the Mason Funeral Home in Winner, South Dakota. Burial will follow in the Winner City Cemetery in Winner, South Dakota. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the services.
Jerry Arthur Kemp was born on Feb. 21, 1943 at Garner, Iowa to Arthur and Grace (Nuehring) Kemp and passed away on Feb. 15th, 2022 at the Winner Regional Hospital.
Jerry and his family moved to Clearfield, South Dakota in 1947. Having moved several times, Jerry attended various country schools and graduated Winner High School in 1961.
Jerry was married to Norma Schmidt and to this union, Todd was born. Jerry then married Cindy Heese, and he adopted her son Michael.
After high school, Jerry worked for the PV Elevator in Winner. Later he worked for the Tripp County Highway Department, where he drove a road maintainer for several years. As owner of Kemp Trucking, he bought and sold hay for several feedlots.
Jerry was a friend to Bob and Joy. A few years after Bob passed away, Jerry invited Joy and her family to his annual Memorial Day cookout. Jerry loved to cook and was quite good at it. He took pride in his cooking.
Jerry and Joy were married June 30, 2007 at Calvary Chapel Church south of Colome, South Dakota.
Gardening with his dad was very important to Jerry and even more so was sharing the produce with family and friends.
Jerry enjoyed his cattle, especially at calving time. He liked taking Joy and his faithful dog, Bud, along to check on them. If Joy couldn’t go with him, he brought her a bouquet of wild flowers, lilacs, or a blooming branch from his orchard.
Jerry was a member of the New Apostolic Church in Ainsworth, Neb.
Preceding Jerry in death were his parents, Art and Grace, many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Jerry is survived by his wife Joy; his two sons Todd and Michael (Crystal) and family. His sister Judy Kelsey of Sundance, Wyo. and her families: Aaron (Ellen) Kelsey and family of Alaska; Adam (Yun Hui) and daughter of Arizona and Melissa (Jonathan) O’Brien of Arizona. A stepdaughter Brenda (Tad) McClanahan and son, and a stepson George A Shippy and family, both from Colome, South Dakota. Aunt Inez and Uncle Bruce Dunbar from Missouri, Uncle Keith and Aunt Wilma Nuehring from Iowa and numerous cousins.