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Funeral services for Leonard Feickert, 95, of Aberdeen, will be 10:30 a.m., Friday, May 5, 2017, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 214 7th Avenue SW, Aberdeen, with Pastor Josiah Fitch officiating.

Burial, with military rites, will follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Aberdeen.

Visitation will be 5-7 p.m., Thursday, at the mortuary, and one hour prior to the service at the church on Friday.  

Leonard passed away Tuesday, May 2, 2017, at Avera Mother Joseph Manor in Aberdeen.

Leonard Feickert was born May 26, 1921, in Leola, McPherson County, South Dakota to Johann A. and Christina (Wacker) Feickert.  He grew up on the family homestead near Long Lake and attended country school through eighth grade, leaving school to help out on the family farm in the midst of the Great Depression and drought.

Leonard entered the United States Army on September 29, 1944.  While serving his country during WWII, Leonard earned the Philippine Liberation Medal with one Bronze Service Star, the Victory Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Service Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal (Japan).  Following his honorable discharge on November 8, 1946, Leonard returned to the states.  

Leonard was united in marriage to Alvina Vilhauer in Roscoe, SD on November 20, 1946.  They made their home in Aberdeen.

In 1946, Leonard started as a foreman for Aberdeen Steel, working for Ken Vaughn.  In subsequent years he purchased small portions of similar steel building construction companies and in 1967 went into partnership with Linton Hinds to form Steel Structures of Aberdeen.  The business was quite successful and in 1976 he “retired” and sold his shares to other family members.  

Upon “retirement”, Leonard and his wife Alvina volunteered, working for the Laborers for Christ organization.  This experience led them to work on building churches in eleven different states; from coast to coast and border to border.  In 1984, they traveled to Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa to support the Lutheran Bible Translators organization; building garages and shop facilities.  They returned again in 1987, spending another six months in similar activities.

After “retiring” from volunteerism, Leonard and Alvina stayed close to their Aberdeen home while Leonard worked as a carpenter’s helper and also in the receiving department at Target.  These jobs often got in the way of his favorite pastime, golf.  He often had to “negotiate” with his bosses for a favorable schedule so he could enter tournaments and travel with his “Wednesday Golf Group” that traveled to most of the courses in northeastern South Dakota.  Shortly after his 80th birthday in 2001, Leonard decided to give up his golf game, citing the disappearance of all his golf buddies as too many had passed or become unable to golf any more.  

Leonard and Alvina shared over 66 years of marriage before she passed away on February 12, 2013.  Leonard continued to make Aberdeen his home until the time of his death.

Leonard is survived by his four children:  Larry of the Twin Cities, Shirley (Paul) Daschel of Aberdeen; Lon of Faulkton, SD, and Roland of Bristol, PA; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Alvina; his parents; six brothers:  Henry, Otto, Reinhold, Daniel, Leo and Benjamin; five sisters:  Luisa, Lydia, Hilda, Martha and Alma; and one granddaughter, Stephanie Daschel.