Chadrad.com

Funeral services for Merlin Ralph Kesselring, age 84, of Custer, SD will be at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at Chamberlain McColley’s Funeral Home in Custer, SD.

Burial will follow at the Custer Cemetery in Custer, SD.

A memorial has been established in Merlin’s name to benefit the Hunter J. Lewis Memorial Scholarship Foundation. Donations may be sent to Hunter J. Lewis Memorial Scholarship Foundation, c/o The Black Hills Area Community Foundation, PO Box 231, Rapid City, SD 57709.

Merlin passed away on April 5, 2018 at his home in Custer, SD. He was born on December 11, 1933 in Blue Earth, MN to Ralph and June (Hanson) Kesselring.

Merlin graduated from Blue Earth High School in 1951 and married Carol Myers in 1953. To this marriage, four children were born. He farmed in the area for many years and was very active in many local civic organizations before moving to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Merlin proudly served in the Army Reserves. Most of his life was spent collecting antiques and primitives from the homestead era. He was finally able to display them in natural settings in the old west Cowtown, High Plains Homestead, which he founded in the rugged badlands of northwest Nebraska in 1997.

Merlin is survived by wife Roberta of Custer, SD; son Michael (Linda) Kesselring of High Plains, NE; daughters Suzanne (Darwin) Olson of Blue Earth, MN, Romi (Tim) Brown of Maple Grove, MN, and Annette Mahone of Sioux Falls, SD; stepdaughter Faith (Bob) Crisman of Custer, SD; stepsons Mikal (Kathleen) Lewis of Custer, SD, Rusty (Jennifer) Lewis of Oklahoma City, OK, and Eric (Shawn) Lewis of Gillette, WY; sister Darlene (Dick) Mair; sister-in-law Gerry Kesselring; 19 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Merlin was preceded in death by brother Larry Kesselring; son-in-law Robert Mahone; and grandson Hunter Lewis.