• Jean P. Ries, 95, Sioux Falls, formerly Groton, died Friday, December 27, 2013, at home after a long battle with cancer.
• Visitation will be January 1, 2014, from 5-7pm, with a prayer service at 6:30pm, at Heartland Funeral Home, Brandon, SD.  Funeral Mass will begin at 11 a.m., January 2, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Sioux Falls, with Fr. Morgan officiating.  Inurnment will take place at a later date at the Black Hills National Cemetery.  A Memorial services will also take place at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church at a later date.
• Jean was born on March 4, 1918 in Watertown, SD to Mary Elizabeth and John A Ries.  He was the 15th of 17 children.  He

grew up in Watertown, and was the high school State Golf Champion for two years.  He attended Northern State College where he met his future bride, Betty Mae Sieh. 
• He was a decorated veteran of WW II and served in the US Army 147th field artillery unit from Aberdeen, SD.  One of his biggest memories was leaving Pearl Harbor just 7 days before it was bombed. He was stationed in Darwin, Australia as well as New Guinea.  He also recounted how they had guns, but each soldier only had 4 bullets… three for the Japanese, and one for themselves.  Since the ammo was so limited and they could see the Japanese overhead, they were able to fool them by moving their camps often and driving back and forth over the road making it look like there were a lot more troops than there really were.
• After being honorably discharged, he returned to Aberdeen, and married Betty on January 11, 1945, in Groton, SD.  They started their family while living in Watertown, where he worked at a dry cleaning business.  After their first two daughters were born, they moved to a farm near Groton where he learned to love the land…. and more children.  In total, they had 7 girls and "each one had a brother."  He and Betty farmed and built a successful Grade A Dairy business for 32 years in rural Groton. The family was very involved in many different areas throughout the years, including the NFO, REA, St John the Baptist Catholic Church, American Legion, James Valley Telephone Cooperative, United Family Farmers and Catholic Rural Life.  After he retired, they built a home at Tacoma Park.  Betty passed away in 1980 before she could fully enjoy "the park place".
• Jean always enjoyed fishing and after Betty passed, he moved to the mega capital of walleye fishing…Akaska, SD !!  He lived here for 15 years and was considered a "local". He fished full time and helped the Bauers make bottom bouncers in his spare time.  He even made friends with a couple of hungry garter snakes.  They

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