Dale Richardson, age 78, of St. Onge, formerly of Murdo, South Dakota, died on Saturday, November 25, 2023 at Monument Health in Rapid City.
The first visitation will be held 5 to 7 p.m. (MST) Wednesday November 29, at Leverington Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche, followed by a reception at the Moose Lodge.
The second visitation will be held 5 to 7 p.m. (CST) Thursday, November 30, at the United Methodist Church in Murdo.
Funeral services will be held 1:00 p.m. (CST) Friday, December 1, at the United Methodist Church in Murdo with Pastor Cheryl Nymann officiating.
Interment will follow at the White River Cemetery.
Dale Theodore Richardson was born July 10, 1945 in Murdo, South Dakota. He was the son of Theodore and Kathryn (Hoffman) Richardson. The Richardson Ranch, located near Murdo, has been in his family for over 100 years. This was home to Dale, and to this day, Dale loved spending time there. For the past couple years, Dale has been working hard to make improvements to that special place. Dale graduated from Murdo High School in 1963 and following, he attended college at SDSU in Brookings, and BHSU in Spearfish. Dale was united in marriage to Beverly Bechtold on August 5, 1967 at White River, South Dakota. To this union four children were born: Stacy, Kristi, James, and Shawn. Following their marriage, Dale and Beverly lived in Murdo. During some of these first years of marriage, Dale worked on the construction of I-90 from Presho to Wasta. In 1970 the family moved to Cody NE, and in 1974 they settled in Arpan. Then in 1983 they moved to St. Onge, where Dale has lived since. Dale worked on several ranches, numerous construction projects, gold and coal mining, and he spent 9 years working for American Colloid near Belle Fourche. His main hobby in life was an exceptional talent at carving. Dale carved anything out of anything, including wood, antlers, jade, and more. He loved the outdoors, whether it was ranch work or hunting and fishing, and he always carried a good knife in his pocket. He was a hard worker his whole life, a cowboy, a fun-loving husband, father, and grandfather. He loved his family and he traveled the entire western U.S. just to see them all. He will be greatly missed by them all.
Dale is survived by his wife of 56 years, Beverly. He is also survived by his children, Stacy (Sherri) of Post Falls ID, Kristi (Neal) McCoy of Belle Fourche, James (Laurie) of Belle Fourche; 11 grandchildren: Cassandra (Chris), Nicole, Bryan (Stephanie), Kurt, Tawni (Douglas), Wyatt, Kathryn (Bailey), Sydnee, Kalee, Chloee, Joseph (Aubrey), Nathan, Lindsey; 15 great-grandchildren: Joshua, Kaydence, Payton, Rylan, Rylee, Kaleah, Adelyn, Laynee, Elaina, Marcus, Zailee, Sophia, Presley, Douglas, Gauge; two sisters, Rena (David) Ortbahn (Dustin, Casey, Crystal), Diana (Joel) Irvine of Folsom CA; and lots of nieces, nephews, cousins, and good friends. Dale also had two Dachshund’s – Ruger and Sami. He loved those dogs.
Dale was preceded in death by his son, Shawn; parents, Theodore and Kathryn; twin brother, Gale; father and mother-in-law, Frank and Della Bechtold.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be directed to the St. Onge Fire Department.
Arrangements are with Leverington Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche (www.LeveringtonFH.com), as well as Rush Funeral Home of Murdo  (www.rushfuneralhome.com).
