John Rasmusson, 83 of Sioux Falls, formerly of Dell Rapids passed away suddenly on Wednesday, August 3, 2016. His funeral service will be held on Monday, August 8, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. in the Lutheran Church of Dell Rapids. Visitation on Sunday, August 7, 2016 will begin at 2:00 p.m. The family will be present to greet friends from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Kahler Funeral Home. On-line condolences may be left at the Kahler Funeral Home website.
John Rasmusson was born on December 16, 1932 at Edgar, NE, the youngest son of Sander and Ruth Rasmusson. The family moved several times in John’s youth as his father was a Pastor. John graduated from high school in DeWitt, NE and then went to the University of Nebraska on a Navy ROTC scholarship. He majored in civil engineering.
After graduation, he served three years on the USS Mathews, home ported in Long Beach, CA. While in the Navy, he met and married Joan Ollig who was teaching in Long Beach. Their wedding was on March 23, 1957 at Belmon Shore Methodist Church. John’s father officiated. He was separated from the Navy in 1959 and the rank of LTJG. He became employed as an Engineer in Training at the firm of Black & Veatch Consulting Engineers in Kansas City, MO. While there, he became a registered professional engineer in the state of Missouri. He was active in the American Society of Engineers, Kansas City Chapter.
In 1962, the family moved to Ada, MN to work in the Ollig family owned telephone business. After two years in Ada, they relocated to Dell Rapids, SD where John became General Manager of Sioux Valley Telephone Company and Vice President of Ollig Utilities Company. In addition to Sioux Valley, Ollig owned Norman County Telephone Company in Ada, MN, Sleepy Eye Telephone Company in Sleepy Eye, MN, G.O. Miller Telephone Company in Goodhue, MN, Hills Telephone Company in Hills, MN, and Valley Cablevision in Dell Rapids. John was president of the South Dakota Telephone Association and served on the board of the South Dakota Network. He was actively involved in the cellular side of the telephone business when it first came on the scene in SD, MN, and Iowa.
John loved taking photos, and in later years became the proud owner of a Canon EOS Rebel XT digital camera. His favorite subjects were people … friends and family, as well as places they traveled. After the children left home, he resumed his lifelong ambition to play tennis. He joined Woodlake Athletic Club, took lessons from Marty Johnson, and played in a weekly league supervised by Don Grebin. It was during that time that he fell one night and suffered a concussion requiring surgery to relieve the hematoma that resulted.
John is survived by his wife, Joan of Sioux Falls; his son, Peter (Joan) Rasmusson of Sioux Falls; his two daughters, Pam Carroll of Chicago, IL, and Laurie (Oliver) Wolfert of Washington, DC; his grandchildren, Christian, Wesley, Evan, and Ryan Rasmusson, Megan Carroll-Kulick (Aaron), Matthew Carroll, Clair and Eliot Wolfert; his sister-in-law, Gail Ollig – Lillard of Phoenix, AZ; and many nieces and nephews.