Dale Richardson

Dale Richardson, age 78 of St. Onge, died Saturday, November 25, 2023 at the Monument Health Rapid City Hospital.

A visitation will be held 5 to 7 pm (MST) Wednesday at Leverington Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche, followed by a reception at the Moose Lodge.  Another visitation will take place 5 to 7pm Thursday at the United Methodist Church in Murdo.  The funeral service will be held 1pm (CST) Friday at the United Methodist Church.  Burial will take place at the White River Cemetery.  Arrangements are with Leverington Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche (www.LeveringtonFH.com), as well as Rush Funeral Home in Philip (www.rushfuneralhome.com)

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to be donated to the St. Onge Fire Department building fund.

Dale Theodore Richardson was born July 10, 1945 in Murdo, South Dakota.  He was the son of Theodore and Kathryn (Hoffman) Richardson. He grew up on the Richardson Ranch, located near Murdo, which has been in his family for over 115 years. 

Dale graduated from Murdo High School in 1963 and following, attended college at SDSU in Brookings, and BHSU in Spearfish. 

Dale was united in marriage to Beverly Bechtold on August 5, 1967 at White River, South Dakota and to this union four children were born: Stacy, Shawn, Kristi, and James.

At the start of their marriage, as they started their family, Dale and Beverly lived in Murdo and he worked as a ranch hand as well as working on the construction of I-90 from Presho to Wasta. He had a short career as an underground gold miner in Lead, SD but he decided that wasn’t a career that he enjoyed so he moved on.

In 1970 Dale moved his family to Cody, NE where he was a ranch hand and tried his luck at Bareback riding for a time. He had a horse go down with him while riding a bucking horse and ended up changing careers again after his back injury healed up.

He moved his family to Arpan, SD in 1974 and went to work for American Colliod Company for 7 years driving a scraper and bulldozer mining bentonite and then 2 years as the safety instructor.

His next career change took him back into ranching in 1983 where he worked on the Delzer Ranch in St. Onge. He eventually settled in St. Onge. However, as his kids grew up and moved on, his drive to do something new took him out of ranching and back into construction.

He hired on with Oftedal Construction Company and he and his wife Bev took to the road traveling from job to job with the company throughout the Midwest. This lasted for a few years before Dale landed a job with Western Energy Coal Mining company in Colstrip, Montana. He worked there for 14 years up until his retirement in 2019.

In the last year and half of Dales life, he went back to his roots working on the family ranch rebuilding fences and making improvements to the property.

Throughout his life, when Dale needed to relax, he would take to carving which was his favorite passtime. The material did not matter and neither did the size or shape. It could be sandstone, antler, tree bark, or jade. He had an exceptional talent for looking at something and seeing something appear within it.

He loved the outdoors and he passed this love onto his kids at a young age taking them hunting and fishing, hiking in the hills, building projects and doing home and yard improvements, arrowhead hunting and maybe not so loved by the kids, firewood cutting. He was a hard worker his whole life, a cowboy, a fun-loving husband, father, and grandfather. He loved all of his family whether they were closely related or 3^rd and 4^th cousins and he traveled the western U.S. searching them out to get to know them. He will be greatly missed by them all.

Dale is survived by his wife of 56 years, Beverly.  He is also survived by his children, Stacy (Sherri) of Post Falls ID, Kristi (Neal) McCoy of Belle Fourche, James (Laurie) of Belle Fourche; 11 grandchildren, Cassandra (Chris), Nicole (Austin), Bryan (Stephanie), Kurt, Tawni (Douglas), Wyatt, Katie, Bailey, Sydnee, Kalee, Chloee, Joseph (Aubrey), Nathan, Lindsey; 15 great grandchildren, Joshua, Kaydence, Payton, Rylan, Rylee, Kaleah, Adelyn, Laynee, Elaina, Marcus, Zailee, Sophia, Presley, Douglas, Gauge; 2 sisters, Rena (David) Ortbahn (Dustin, Casey, Crystal) of Pierre, SD; Diana (Joel) Irvine of Folsom CA; and lots of nieces, nephews, cousins, and good friends.  Dale also had two Dachshund’s – Ruger and Sami.  He loved those dogs.

Dale was preceded in death by his son, Shawn; parents, Theodore and Kathryn; twin brother, Gale; father and mother-in-law, Frank and Della Bechtold.

   IN LOVING MEMORY

Dale Richardson

Service of Celebration

1:00 P.M. (CST) – Friday – December 1, 2023

United Methodist Church

Murdo, South Dakota

Officiant

Pastor Cheryl Nymann

Music

“Amazing Grace”, “On Eagle’s Wings”,

“I Love”, “Go Rest High on that Mountain”

(Recorded)

Honorary Casketbearers

All of Dale’s Grandchildren

Active Casketbearers

Terry Brandis                                               Dustin Ortbahn

Chauncey Labrier                                    Cory Richardson

Levi Newbold                                                  Shad Stromer

Interment

White River Cemetery

Officiated by Pastor Ray Greenseth