Ray Muilenburg

Ray Muilenburg age 91 of Belle Fourche, died Sunday December 26th, 2010 at the Belle Fourche Regional Senior Care Center in Belle Fourche. A Memorial Service will be held 10am Friday January 7th, 2011 at Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche, with Rev. Gail Arnold officiating. There will be no visitation. Inurnment will be held this spring in the Platte City Cemetery, in Platte South Dakota. Ray Muilenburg was born July 16, 1919 on a farm east of Corsica, South Dakota. He was the son of Henry and Hattie (Klein) Muilenburg. Ray farmed much of his early life, helping on the family farm after his father’s death in 1932. In his teen years, Ray worked one year for the National Youth Administration. On June 10, 1942 he was united in marriage to Jennie Luurs in Coolridge, NE. Following their marriage they continued farming in the Corsica and Platte areas until they moved to Platte in the early 1950’s, except for a couple of years spent in Custer where Ray owned a service station. Ray also worked for the City of Platte from 1949 until 1981 when he retired. The following September, Ray suffered from a broken neck while cutting wood. His injury ended all of his camping and fishing, but the doctors were all quite stunned at his recovery. They said he would never walk again, but Ray proved them wrong. In 1989, Ray and Jennie moved to the Black Hills. He and Jennie loved doing crafts together and attending craft fairs whenever possible. Ray crafted many wooden models by hand. He loved coming up with improvements on all the plans and making them work. Jennie died in 2006, and Ray’s world changed greatly. In 2008 he entered the Belle Fourche Regional Senior Care Center where he has lived since. Ray enjoyed collecting anything John Deere and he loved doing jigsaw puzzles and word find puzzles. He would do the word find puzzles without marking out any words, and then return to the puzzles later and do them all over again. He loved being a tease and being teased back. If he wasn’t joking, giving someone a smile and a wink, we knew he wasn’t feeling well. Ray will be remembered for his enormous heart and as a loving husband and father. He was always available with a helping hand, and no matter what he was faced with, he had a smile and twinkle in his eye. Ray is survived by his children, Florence (Bill) Shea of Corsica SD, Harold (Karen) Muilenburg of Aladdin WY, Nora (Cal) Erhart of Belle Fourche SD; and 11 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and sister, Henrietta Polinder of Lynden, WA. He is also survived by 3 great great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Jennie; sisters, Bertha Bos and Ella Marie Sterk; brothers, Pete and Arie Muilenburg; and 2 grandchildren, Starla and Steven Shea. DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1919 Corsica, South Dakota DATE OF DEATH December 26, 2010 Belle Fourche, South Dakota CELEBRATION OF LIFE SERVICE 10:00 A.M. – Friday – January 7th, 2011 Funeral Home of the Northern Hills Belle Fourche, South Dakota OFFICIANT Rev. Gail Arnold SPECIAL MUSIC “The Old Rugged Cross”, “Rock of Ages”, “Go Rest High on that Mountain” INURNMENT Platte City Cemetery Platte, South Dakota