James Lahr, 82, of Flandreau, South Dakota passed away on April 21, 2026 at Edgewood Memory Care in Mitchell, South Dakota.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, April 28, 2026 at 10:30 AM at St. Simon and Jude Catholic Church in Flandreau, South Dakota.
James Anthony Lahr was born to Anthony and Evelyn (Hamer) Lahr in Dell Rapids, SD on December 1st, 1943. In the fall of 1963, he was seated next to a good-looking girl in accounting class at Nettleton College. On April 24, 1965, he married that girl, Janet Hammond at St. Mary’s Church in Sioux Falls, SD. A few weeks later they moved to Santa Monica, California where they lived for four years and had their first child, Jill, in 1966.
They moved back to Sioux Falls, South Dakota with a job offer for accounting and bought their first house. Their second child, Julie, was born in 1969. They lost an infant son, Jeffrey, due to a car accident in November of 1971.
In 1974 the family moved to an older, two-story home in Trent, SD. They had found their forever home and God was gracious enough to give them two sons; Jared in 1976 and Jonathon in 1978.
Jim held many jobs over his career, but his longest employment was with Egan Fertilizer and Ramsdell’s F & M. He enjoyed every minute of working there and valued the relationships with the coworkers and customers. He finally had a job that kept him busy all the time, and he needed to be busy all the time!
Jim loved to spend time with family both near home and traveled to visit relatives whenever he could. Jim always looked forward to the deer hunting season. Jim would travel out West River to Wall, SD every year for a deer hunting trip with his brother Tom and good friend Mike Lacey. Later, the sons of these three men joined in on this annual trip.
Jim coached the Trent Girls Softball team that his daughters played for during high school. After a few years, the Trent and Egan teams combined, and Jim became assistant coach, and continued coaching until they both graduated.
Jim is preceded in death by his parents; infant son Jeffrey; brother DeeLee Kleespie; sister Darleen Baumberger-Lebrun; brother-in-law Don Baumberger, brother-in-law Gary Keller, and sister-in-law Corrine Kleespie.
Jim is survived by his wife Janet; sister Kathleen Keller of California; brother Tom Lahr of Dell Rapids, SD; daughters Jill (Curt) Rand of Colorado Springs, CO, and Julie (Bryan) Schipper of Flandreau, SD; sons Jared (Laura) of Morrison, CO and Jonathon (Renae) Flandreau, SD, grandchildren Mikayla, Hannah, Dalton, Karissa, Hailey, James, Ella, Nathan, Sara; and great grandchildren Lily, Ava, and Nash.
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