PIERRE, SD – On May 13, 2025, our father, Kevin Hoyt Tveidt, age 69, of Pierre, SD, soared with angels to his forever home in Heaven. Dad will be greatly missed by: our mom Connie, who was by his side for more than 46 years of marriage; us kids, Stephanie (Jason) Knapp, Jerry (Darcie) Tveidt, and Michael (Sarah) Tveidt; mother Adeline Tveidt; sister Dena (Brian) Scott; brother Jon Tveidt; eight precious grandchildren, (Noah, Cambell, Finley, Mykah, Ivy, Kru Kevin, Livia, William Kevin), numerous extended family members and many wonderful friends. Dad was looking forward to seeing his father, Jerome and brother, Todd at Heaven’s gate.

Our Dad was always looking for adventure. As a young boy he made go-carts. As a young man he road dirt bikes and Harleys. As a husband and father, he learned to fly planes and sail yachts, and he took us along.

Kevin was born in Sioux Falls, SD on September 13, 1955 and graduated from Brandon Valley High School in 1973. Some activities in his youth were the boy scouts, football, track, and Renner Monarch Baseball. He graduated from the North Central Forestry Program in Grand Rapids, Minnesota in 1975 and from South Dakota State University in 1978. He made lifelong friends and memories during his junior year on National Student Exchange to the University of Idaho, where he discovered the excitement of white-water rafting and snow skiing.

Dad met our mom, Connie Ames in 6th grade in Brandon and won her over with his already handsome looks and quiet approach. They dated off and on until they wed in 1978. He was an active member in the Pierre community where he and Mom lived since 1979: YMCA board officer and fundraising leader, Pierre Economic Development Corporation president, Kiwanis Club officer, and SS Peter & Paul Church member. He retired in 2015 after 18 years of service in state government, plus he and Connie managed and then owned a successful environmental business for 13 years.

First and foremost, Dad was a family man. He enjoyed so many things, including hunting, fishing, camping, golfing, pickleball, ice skating, coffee with the guys, waterskiing, Shania Twain, target shooting, shoestring potato sticks, cigars, happy hour, George Strait, traveling the USA in their Sprinter adventure van, family bike rides, and old-world craftsmanship. We kids have fond memories of him rounding the bases at the softball fields, dominating on the racquetball courts, flying an airplane across the Dakotas, and charting a course and adjusting the sails as we traveled through the Virgin Islands.

Known to his eight grandchildren as Papa or Grandpa, our family’s “fireworks director”, he could often be found sneaking them licorice, chasing them up a sledding hill, skiing down a Montana mountain, or pulling them behind his boat on the Missouri. The Tveidts enjoyed many Norwegian traditions, like making lefse, which dad carried on in recent years. He also inherited the family’s carpentry bug from his father. Dad and Mom and our whole family built and remodeled many homes together in Pierre. When family or friends needed something built or repaired, they knew who to call. Dad couldn’t give a hoot about material things. He was an ultimate Do-It-Yourselfer. He fixed up anything and everything until it was no longer fixable. He always had a shoelace, tape, battery or pocket knife handy to repair something on the spot.

When our father set his mind to doing something, he did it. While cancer ultimately took his life, he bravely fought it for more than four and a half years. Our heartfelt thanks go out to our family members and friends across the country for their ongoing prayers, calls and visits. And a huge thank you to the exceptional Pierre Hospice team, who provided support for a peaceful and compassionate setting during Dad’s transition from this life to the next. A small, private service will be held for the immediate family. Memorial donations in Kevin’s honor may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, or we’d love it if you would plant a tree on your property, or in a favorite place, in memory of him.

From the words of one of Dad’s favorite songs, “A Father’s love, is a love without end. AMEN.”

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