George "Terry" Aartun

George “Terry” Aartun, age 84, of Colton, SD, passed away on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, at Dells Nursing and Rehab Center in Dell Rapids, SD.

A private family funeral service will take place at 10:30 AM Monday, October 24, 2022, at the Minnehaha Funeral Home in Colton, SD with Rev. Tim Lemme officiating. Burial with military honors will follow at Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Colton.

Public visitation will be from 5-7 PM Sunday, October 23, at the Minnehaha Funeral Home in Colton, SD.

In lieu of flowers, family wish memorials, which will be directed at a later date.

George “Terry” Aartun was born on a farm in rural Colton on Oct. 10, 1938, to George and Theresa.

October 1938 was quite a month. Theresa always said, the lilacs bloomed again, and there was an earthquake!

Terry graduated from Colton High School in 1958. He was very handy, great at woodworking, and worked at various farms around Colton.

In 1961, he entered the Army, serving in Thailand, where he helped build a base. He also served in the Army Reserves at Fort Bliss in Texas. He was an expert marksman.

He did construction work for Clem Dickerson and the Colton Lumber Yard. It was fun to drive around the area with Terry because he could always point out, “I helped build that house” or “I helped put the roof on that building.”

Marlys Ward caught Terry’s eye when she worked at the Colton Bank. Some of Marlys’ coworkers helped play matchmaker by making sure Marlys was always the teller to help Terry when he came in. They married Feb. 22, 1969.

Terry spent much of their early years of marriage renovating their house.

Later he went to work for Rosebud Manufacturing in Madison where he was a cutoff saw operator for 25 years. This was a welcome change from outdoor work. He would regularly come home and report, “I cut a lot of boards today.” And quite often he had an exact count, well into the hundreds!

Family was the most important thing to Terry. He was very proud of his three girls, Cheri, Jill, and Ruth. In 1982, Terry gave Cheri the gift of life, when he gave her one of his kidneys.

After years in a house full of girls, Terry finally got some “guy time” when Jill married Dean. Terry went on many fishing trips with Dean and his dad LaVern. Later, grandson Colin “Lefty” Simon came along, and Terry enjoyed watching as many of Colin’s baseball games as he could.

And when Ruth married Eric, Terry had someone to talk with about a shared love of history and coin collecting.

George is survived by his wife, Marlys Aartun of Colton; daughters, Cheri Aartun of Colton, SD, Jill (Dean) Simon of Brandon, SD, and Ruth (Eric) Raveling of Pierre, SD; grandson, Colin Simon of Brandon, SD; brothers, Norman Aartun of Madison, SD and Orlin Aartun of Sioux Falls, SD; and other extended family members.

He was preceded in death by his parents, George Sr. and Theresa Aartun; and sister, Jean Lemme.