Cornelius "Connie" James Clemens

Cornelius "Connie" James Clemens, 82, of Northville, SD passed away Wednesday, March 16, 2016, at his home, surrounded by his family.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:00 a.m., Monday, March 21, 2016, at All Saints Catholic Church, 23 1st Avenue, Mellette, SD, with Father Gregory L. Frankman as Celebrant.

Burial, with military rites, follows at Fairview Cemetery in Northville.

Schriver's Memorial Mortuary and Crematory, 414 5th Avenue NW, Aberdeen, is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation will be 3-5 p.m., Sunday, at All Saints Catholic Church, with a liturgical wake service being held at 5:00 p.m. No visitation will be held at the mortuary in Aberdeen.

Cornelius James Clemens ("Connie" or "Clem") was born June 28, 1933 to Verne and Josephine (Elsom) Clemens in Aberdeen, SD. He grew up and attended school in Northville, SD, graduating from Northville High School in 1951.

Connie farmed with his grandfather until July of 1953, at which time he entered the service of the United States Army. Upon completion of boot camp training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, where he attended the 5th Army Div Spec. Training School and became a field wiremen, he was deployed to Korea, where he was assigned to Co B, 101st Signal Bn. Connie was relieved from active duty on May 11, 1955 and then was put on standby reserve. He received an honorable discharge from the military service on June 30, 1961.

Connie worked for Haselhorst Implement in Northville and Schnuerle Construction in Aberdeen, SD after his discharge from the service. He then moved to Anoka, MN and worked for Jay Mfg Co. in Minneapolis, MN for three years.

Cornelius married Ruth Posson, also from Northville, on May 11, 1957 in Coon Rapids, MN. They made their home in Anoka, MN until January of 1960. They then moved to Gardena, CA, where he worked as a certified welder for Moneta Welding Company before moving back to SD in 1964. After returning to SD he worked for Kelly Plumbing and Heating in Aberdeen until 1969, when he took over his dad's job as the Northville School custodian. Connie worked for the Northville School District, which changed to Northwestern School District until his retirement in 1998. He also farmed for many of those years south of Northville on land belonging to his family.

Connie was police chief and fire chief for the town of Northville for many years and was also a water commissioner and maintenance person for the city. He was a member and past commander of the Northville American Legion Post #149. Connie was also a member of the Redfield VFW Post #02755.

Connie coached little league baseball and basketball for many years when his two boys were involved and even for a time afterward. His family was very important to him. Connie loved working with kids. He loved his grandchildren so very much and spent as much time with them as he could. When Connie was younger, he hunted and fished a lot. As the years went on, fishing became his favorite sport-especially ice fishing. Connie loved baseball, basketball, and football. When someone from the city or surrounding area needed something for a repair, they always knew they could come to Connie and he probably had what they were looking for, or that he could probably fix it for them. Connie was quite the inventor, but never tried to patent any of his ideas, but was always prodded by his family to do so. He never wanted to be in the limelight, but rather would do and help in a very quiet manner. Connie was always there for whoever might need him.

He is survived by his wife of almost 59 years, Ruth Clemens of Northville; two sons, William A (Denise) Clemens of Northville and Todd J. (Shari) Clemens of Sioux Falls; five grandsons: Josh, Cole, Zec, Cade, and Will; three granddaughters: Ashley, Josie, and AvAC.: and six siblings: Gordon (Shirley) Clemens, Mary Ann Heidt, Darlo (Martha) Clemens, Curt Clemens, Rich (Jan) Clemens, and Michael (Shirley) Clemens.

He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers.