John Marvin Van Liere

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John Van Liere, age 92, of Dell Rapids, SD, formerly of Colton passed away Thursday, February 21, 2019 at the Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, SD surrounded by his family.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 on Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at First Reformed Church in Colton, SD. Burial will be held at the Colton Cemetery with Military Honors.

Visitation will be from 5:00-7:00pm on Tuesday February 26 at the Minnehaha Funeral Chapel in Colton, SD.

John Marvin Van Liere was born on April 11, 1926 in Chester, SD to Pete and Dena (Van Hunnik) Van Liere. He attended grade school and graduated from Colton High School in 1945.  After graduation, John worked at John Morrell and Company and helped on the farm before being drafted into the Army for WWII. After two years of service in occupied Japan, John returned home and soon after married Esther Harmelink on April 2, 1948. John and Esther began farming south of Colton and eventually moved northwest of Colton where they retired from farming in 1990. After retirement, John and Esther built a home in Colton and spent their winters in Apache Junction, AZ.  In 2018, John and Esther sold their home and moved to Orchard Hills in Dell Rapids, SD.

John was a lifetime member of First Reformed Church of Colton and served in many positions for the church over the years. He was also a long-time member of the American Legion and Lion’s Club. John and Esther enjoyed square dancing, playing cards, going to auctions, traveling and spending time with family and friends. John especially loved sports and was a strong competitor in many activities. However, he found his niche in Hand Corn Husking where he became “the man to beat” in the South Dakota state competitions for many years and represented South Dakota at the National Corn Husking Contest repeatedly, winning the National Corn Husking Open Division in 1995. John participated in the Senior Games for over 30 years and in 2005 was inducted into the South Dakota Senior Games Hall of Fame.

John was also quite a celebrity in his own ranks. He was a contestant on the Price is Right in 1988, where he made it to the final show case show down. John was interviewed countless times for local news special interest stories. He starred in an episode of the nationally syndicated cooking show Glutton for Punishment, highlighting John’s corn husking skills and Esther’s corn related recipes. John once posed for the cover of Farm Journal magazine and his WWII biography was published in Greg Latza’s book, “Blue Stars”.

Grateful for sharing his life are his wife of 70 years, Esther; daughter, Nancy (Greg) Meyer of Wentworth, SD; six sons, David (Jayne) of Huntington, IN, Larry of Sioux Falls, SD,  Tom of Chester, SD,  Jay of Wentworth, SD, Don (Celeste) of Phoenix, AZ and  Bob (Joan) of Wentworth, SD; seventeen grandchildren and thirty one great-grandchildren; sister, Julie Swier of Dell Rapids, S;  brothers. Lowell (June) Van Liere of Hartford, SD and  Roy (Elaine) Van Liere of Colton, SD; sisters-in-law, Helen Van Liere of Sioux Falls and Irene Richardson of Vermillion, SD.

John was preceded in death by his parents, Pete and Dena Van Liere; brothers, Melvin and Adrian and his wife, Jeanette; brothers-in-law, Gerret Swier and Ronald Richardson and sister-in-law, Cathryn (Cash) Swier and her husband, Rich.