William L. “Bill” Meckle, 83, of Keldron, SD, was called home to heaven on January 11, 2025. God needed a cowboy and took the best one home.
Bill was born on March 15, 1941, on the family farm in Denhoff, ND, to Emanuel and Lydia (Richter) Meckle. He was born into a large family of which he was 10th of 14 kids. He was called Billy by all his family growing up, but went by Bill later in life. Bill grew up milking cows by hand, driving a team out to the stacks, pitching the day’s hay and bringing it in on a stone boat using a team of horses. He would have to unhitch the team and tie them to the stone boat so they didn’t run off in the wind and cold. School was a 4-mile walk. Bundled up with a lunch pail of lard sandwiches for lunch, away he and his siblings went. During the winter, he would drive the team and stone boat to pick up other family members and take them to school. The family moved to McClusky, ND, in the early 1950’s. He attended school there until one day he decided school wasn’t for him and walked out of the school doors to his brother Walter’s farm. Bill spent most of his time there helping with threshing and haying. Bill’s job was to buck the hay and bring it to the overshot using a team of horses.
At age 13, he left home and started working at the Patterson Ranch in Wing, ND, where he helped with threshing and haying. He slept in the barn with the other ranch hands. Most of all, he loved working with the horses.
His journey took him to Mobridge, SD, where some of his family were working. Bill worked various jobs in the Selby and Mobridge areas. He started working for Henry Munderlow and it was with him that Bill got to do what he always wanted – raising calves into yearlings. This led to Bill’s lifelong love of ranching and cattle. While working for Henry, John Thaxton of Texas, who owned a large ranch along Snake Creek, asked Bill to come work for him. Over the course of his time there, John was a mentor to Bill in many things including life and ranching. John even helped Bill buy his first yearlings. Then the Blizzard of 1966 hit. With the tremendous losses of cattle, John decided that it was time to sell the ranch and move back to Texas. John asked Bill to go with him, but Bill loved the Mobridge area and wanted to stay.
The ranch sold to Jack Love, and became known to this day as the Love Ranch. Bill worked for him for a time, but decided to move on, and began working on the Triple U Ranch in Akaska, SD, where he worked for 17 years. He oversaw the ranch work, feeding, calving, fencing, and putting up hay into haystacks which he did with an M tractor. It was here that he used a round baler for the first time. Many hours were spent on horseback checking cattle, doctoring them, and moving them from pasture to pasture. Heat nor cold ever mattered to Bill when there was work to be done, and he often times wore a gunny sack around his face and cardboard around his legs when he would feed with the tractor. While Bill enjoyed his time on the Triple U, it was a dream of his to run his own cattle. In the meantime, the Love Ranch was sold to Weldon Kirby and Tommy Kendrick of Texas, and they contacted Bill and asked him to work for them on what was still known as the Love Ranch. This ranch was always home to Bill. Weldon and Tommy would send truckloads of yearlings from Texas to summer at the ranch. Bill ran his own yearlings along with them. He married Sandy Ritter, and 2 children were born – a daughter, Alexis, and a son, Hayes, a year later. Bill would often be seen riding horses with his kids on the saddle with him and Sandy riding right along beside. He worked there until the ranch was sold, but made a life-long friend in Tommy. Bill then bought land in Ft. Pierre, SD, and ran yearlings. He would trailer his horses there many times each year to check dams, fences, and doctor anything that was sick, often time with his kids in tow. He made many friends with the neighboring ranchers and often had many hands helping with rounding up yearlings when it was time to sell them.
In the meantime, a ranch in Wall, SD, was for sale, so they sold the land in Ft. Pierre and moved to Wall during the blizzard of 96-97 where he continued to run yearlings and cow/calf pairs. The Badlands were the backdrop of the ranch. Having seen a ranch in the Keldron, SD, area for sale that he always admired when he worked for John Thaxton, Bill decided to relocate. Bill sold the ranch in Wall and bought the ranch in Keldron in 2008, where he spent the remainder of his life taking care of his livestock.
Bill was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He instilled the strength of family in his kids and always appreciated a strong work ethic. In his later years, he loved playing with his grandkids, teaching them about cattle, and showing them off to everyone.
He is survived by his wife, Sandy Meckle, son Hayes Meckle and daughter Alexis (Tyler) Kling; 2 grandchildren Weston and Sadie Kling; 1 brother, Wilmer (Jane) Meckle, Rochester, WA; sisters, Cora (Carl) Rundberg, Minot, ND; Charlotte Lindquist, Cambridge, MN; Donna (Don) Debowey, Cheyenne, WY; Marilyn Biesterfeld, Chico, CA; and Pat (Jim) Porter, Rochester, WA; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Emanuel and Lydia Meckle; sisters Lenora Roemmich, Elsie Wellman, and Wanda Stein; brothers Ted Meckle, Manny Meckle, Walter Meckle, and Reuben Meckle.
Funeral services will be at 11 AM, Friday, January 24, 2025, at Kesling Funeral Home in Mobridge. Burial will be at Greenwood Cemetery in Mobridge.
