Leon "Bede" Franklin Vondracek

Leon “Bede” Vondracek age 89 of Belle Fourche, died Saturday May 2, 2009 at Judy’s Assisted Living Center in Belle Fourche. The funeral service will be held 2pm Friday May 8th, 2009 at Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche with Rev. Gail Arnold officiating. Visitation will be held 4 to 7 pm Thursday at Funeral Home of the Northern Hills, and one hour prior to the service. Interment will be held in Pine Slope Cemetery, in Belle Fourche. Memorials are preferred to the United Methodist Church Music Department. Leon Franklin Vondracek was born to Emil O. and Anna Mary (Volesky) Vondracek on October 25, 1919 in Yale, SD. Leon was the youngest of three children with two sisters, Irma and Lenora. They are who gave him his nickname “Bede” which followed him all his life. Yale was his home and where he completed school. Bede lived with his sister, Irma (and husband Thaddeus) O’Keefe while being employed by them at the O’Keefe Implement in DeSmet, SD. Bede later chose to go to western South Dakota and Wyoming and found his life’s path leading him to live and work for many area ranchers. For the past 3 years he lived at Judy’s Assisted Living Center in Belle Fourche. Leon is survived by his sister, Lenora Filip of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; his nieces, Kaye (Greg) Walkow of DeSmet, SD and Carolyn (James) Brandt of Shoreview, MN; and his extended family of Dan and Jan Gilger of Belle Fourche, Larry and Jenny Crawford of Newell and their families. He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Irma O’Keefe; and brothers-in-law, Thaddeus O’Keefe and Robert Filip.