GETTYSBURG, SD – Edward DeKnikker, 95, of Gettysburg, passed away Saturday, June 20, 2026, at the Avera Oahe Manor, Gettysburg.
A celebration of life will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, June 26, 2026, at Luce Funeral Home, Gettysburg. Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. MDT, Monday, June 29, 2026, at Black Hills National Cemetery, Sturgis.
Edward Doran DeKnikker was born February 24, 1931, in Pringle, South Dakota. His father had immigrated to the United States from Holland in the early 1900s.
After going to school and completing the seventh grade, and then leaving school, you may have found him checking out some of the local wild game in the area. More specifically, possibly working on depleting some of those animals for food. Immediately after that you may have found him hiding under a railway trestle or road bridge as the authorities drove by on the roads above.
As a young child, Ed moved out of the family home with what could have been referred to as some pressure. This may have been due to limited space in the family home, limited food in that family home or a limited attention level. That limited attention level may have been with the act of collecting and carrying some chicken eggs and having allowed them to get broken. It is understood that he left home after he carried the broken chicken eggs to the house and there were major words about the eggs getting broken. Ed left the house never to return to the homestead.
He then lived with some of the local people in Pringle, SD and helped them with their “chores” for room, board and food.
Knowing that he was due to be drafted, in May of 1951 he joined the U.S. Marine Corps being assigned to El Turo Marine Corps Base in California. While in California, he had his glorious opportunity to do support work for the Rose Bowl near Pasadena, CA. That was the highlight of his time in California even talking about it within the last month of his life. Eventually, activity of the Korean War efforts had a bead on his attention. He traveled to Korea on a boat full of Marines and the boat got stuck in the middle of the ocean for three days due to an unanticipated storm. He didn’t talk too much about what went on while in Korea, but he did talk about supplying the troops on the front lines and outlying areas with “motor pool” support. He may have been talking about getting supplies to the troops on the front-line including food and vehicles. It seemed to be enjoyable for him to be in a support capacity. Some of that support may have been in the form of bags of rice for the troops. One thing he promised himself while in Korea was that he would “never eat rice again!” To his dying day he was never observed eating rice “again”! See, some wishes do come true!
After getting out of the Marine Corps in 1954, he returned to the Philip, South Dakota area where he worked on a variety of ranches, real cowboy ranches where horses were used to work the cattle! On one occasion he went to a local rodeo where he met and eventually married Lillian O’Dea, a twin and a young schoolteacher, teaching in the Ottumwa area near Philip, SD. From that union came a set of twins, Vern and Violet, and eleven months later, another son, E. Paul.
The family eventually moved to Gettysburg, SD after Jay Lake offered him a position on his ranch and farm near Lake Hurley. Next it was a position at a cattle feedlot owned by Louie Bartels, which changed ownership later to K & K Feedlot owned by Loren Kilian with Bill Kellogg. Eventually it was owned solely by Loren and Carletta Kilian.
As a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and American Legion Post in Gettysburg, SD, he found an individual, Kermit Wager, also from Gettysburg, had been in Korea at the same time although they had not been in the same place at the same time. They shared friendship and camaraderie continually on various visits with a whole lot of laughter. Ed served as the commander of the VFW for a number of years. During that time, he could be found washing dishes and cooking in the kitchen when the Post ran a restaurant and bar on the “main drag” of Gettysburg. Maybe there’s something about the warm water!
During his retirement Ed enjoyed gardening and growing just about everything vegetable to its highest quality and quantity. His theory was: why buy it when you can grow it! To prove that theory, he planted 33 tomato plants with his last gardening expedition. The good news was, three of them died. All of this was directly connected to the winter gardening project of reading seed and gardening catalogs.
His wife, Lillian, had the inside space covered with quilts and her outside space covered with flowers. Ed had his outside space covered in vegetables and found items! (Those who know, know!!!) They are now back together and possibly re-discussing the utilization of each other’s garden space. May they rest in Peace with that!
He is survived by his daughter, Violet; son, E. Paul; sister-in-law, Cleo (Arthur) DeKnikker; granddaughters, Sharon DeKnikker Payne and Kim DeKnikker Cutler; along with six great-grandchildren.
Preceding Ed in passing are his parents; his wife, Lillian; son, Vern; brothers: Albert, Arthur, Jim, Gene and Guy; sisters: Bonnie, Ester, Josephine and Caroline; (yes there were eleven children).
A hearty thank you to the non-family members mentioned here who were extremely supportive of and during Ed’s life by providing a working environment which he loved and adding fun to his life. Thank you to the staff members of Avera Nursing Home, especially to his favorite/s whom he enjoyed being served by and giving a hard time to for his element of laughter.
Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg has been entrusted with Ed’s arrangements.
