Harvey Byrd

    Harvey Byrd, age 57, of Kadoka, S.D., died Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016, at the Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls.
    A celebration of life service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at the Kadoka City Auditorium in Kadoka (friends and family will be invited to share favorite memories during the service).
    Harvey Todd Byrd was born June 5, 1959, in Martin. He lived in Martin until he was three, when his family moved to Kadoka in 1961.
    He attended Kadoka Elementary and graduated from Kadoka High School in 1977. He worked at the H&H Café while still in middle school, clearing tables and running the till for Hellen Uhlir. One summer he helped put up hay at Clair Bitting’s place. In 1975, his dad started a business – Byrd Redi-Mix and Trucking. Harvey was 15 at the time and helped his dad with cement pouring and finishing in the summers, up until his dad’s death in 2004.
    Harvey attended college at Northern State University in Aberdeen between 1977-78, then transferred to Black Hills State University in Spearfish from 1978-80. In 1984, Harvey was united in marriage to Karen Smith on Nov. 17. During their nearly 32 years of married life, they were blessed with four children, Keena, Brook, Christian and Tessara.
    Other jobs Harvey held during his life included register of deeds for Jackson County, several Kadoka Area School District coaching positions with Kristi Baker, Michelle Mansfield, Laurie Prichard, Jean Holzkamp, Travis Thompson and Annette VanderMay (to name a few); and groundskeeper at Kadoka softball/baseball fields with his kids. Harvey was also a volunteer fireman with a host of community members.
    Harvey’s passions in life included anything with his family (including his canine grandchildren) basketball, softball, volleyball, golf, bowling, swimming and camping. He enjoyed participating in sports and was a huge fan of Kadoka Area School District Kougars, the Green Bay Packers, and the Cincinnati Reds.
    During the last years of Harvey’s life after his Lewy Bodies Dementia diagnosis, Harvey worked for the KASD as a part-time custodian with Bonnie Madsen, Polly Brown and Brad Stone and later with Richard Ireland in food service. After “retiring,” Harvey spent his time walking his dog, Bella, visiting with friends and neighbors, Rich Bendt, Tony Gould and Patrick Solon. He also enjoyed hard-core Farkle, playing with his mother, Cathy Stone, and his nieces, Emma, Anna and Andi.
    Survivors include his wife, Karen, of Kadoka; four children, Keena and her husband, Dylan, of Kadoka, Brook and her husband, Jose, of Des Moines, Iowa, Tess of Kadoka, and Chris and his wife, Claire, of Kadoka; his mother, Deanna Byrd, of Kadoka; two sisters, Tammy Baye and her husband, Pat, of Box Elder, and Kristie Stone and her husband, Brad, of Kadoka; and a host of other relatives and friends.
    Harvey was preceded in death by his father, Larry Byrd, on Nov. 30, 2003, and family friend, Gage McSpadden, on July 11, 2015.
    Arrangements are with Rush Funeral Home of Kadoka.