Tj Rajdl

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TJ Rajdl, age 22, Garretson, passed away on Friday, March 23, 2018. Memorial visitation will be from 5-7:00 PM Monday, March 26, 2018, at Minnehaha Funeral Home, Garretson, with a Time of Sharing beginning at 7:00 PM.

TJ was born on June 26 ^th , 1995. The doctor held him up and proudly announced, “You have a beautiful baby boy!”. Whereupon TJ promptly peed all over the doctor’s face. So began the story of TJ.

TJ spent his early years in Ft. Pierre, SD, surrounded by family and friends. He almost starved once when his Auntie Sharon tried to feed him Spaghetti-O’s, one at a time. But that’s a story for another time. At age two, he moved to Garretson, SD. By the age of five he was a proud Blue Dragon. During his time in Garretson he survived a concussion from wrecking his bike and landing head first into a hitching post (darn, those just pop up out of nowhere). He also survived coming home after curfew one too many times. Everyone loved the sweet boy who cared more about everyone else’s problems then his own. One week each summer of his high school years was spent in Ft. Pierre, visiting his Grandpa and Grandma Vander and the Longbrakes. Those weeks were full of fishing, camping, and laughing as he caught up with everyone who lived West River.

Throughout the years, TJ made many trips and memories. There was a yearly trip to Camp David to go hunting with Dad, the Ramsey’s, and anyone else who could find the Camp. He was always up for a road trip with friends.

TJ graduated from Garretson High School in May of 2013, and began working at Baete-Forseth, where he met his extended family – his coworkers. He would come home with outrageous stories of fitting into six-inch crawl spaces and all the fun they would have after the day’s work was done. His coworkers took care of him during the week. On the weekends, he would return to Sioux Falls to hang out with his roommates. Not forgetting Mom and Dad, he would also head back to Garretson on Friday nights for a homecooked meal. Dad, Mom, and TJ would spend the night laughing and talking in the garage. The next day TJ would go home laden with leftovers to share. Mom didn’t want the roommates going hungry you know.

This year TJ would have graduated from his program at Mitchell Tech. He would have turned 23 in June. He would have done a lot of things. He would have wanted us to smile and think of him fondly. He was a loving brother, a wonderful son, a caring grandson, nephew, cousin, and one of the best people any of us will ever know.