Robert "Bob" V. Haeder, age 83, of Huron, died Friday, April 10, 2015, at the Huron Regional Medical Center. His funeral service was at 10:30 AM, Thursday, April 16th, at the St. John's Lutheran Church with Rev. L. Scott Spiehs, officiating. Burial was in the Wolsey Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the St. John's Lutheran Church.
Robert "Bob" V. Haeder was born in Yale on February 22, 1932, to Richard and Emma (Hohm) Haeder. When he was six, his family moved to a farm northeast of Wolsey and he attended elementary and high school at the Wolsey School until his high school graduation in 1950. The University of South Dakota was his next destination. Bob completed his undergraduate studies in 1954 and then entered the law school at USD the following year. He had to take a hiatus from post graduate studies when the all-inclusive price of one semester of law school doubled from $50 to $100.
Bob grew up speaking German at home while speaking English outside of the house and this ability to speak two languages helped him secure a position with the new Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington recruiting German and Austrian machinists for the facility. Working with Boeing allowed him to save enough money to complete law school and he graduated in 1959.
Now a member of the State Bar, he began practicing law as a member of the Attorney General's Office in Pierre. A fellow state employee, Rheba Dickson, caught his eye that year and they began courting shortly thereafter. Bob and Rheba were married on June 3, 1961, in the Sacred Heart Church in White River.
The newly married couple returned to Beadle County when Bob entered into a partnership with George Blue to form Blue & Haeder Law. The pair of Blue & Haeder would practice law together for decades to follow.
Bob and Rheba expanded their family on December 14, 1962, when their first son, Robert Victor Haeder II, was born in Huron. A second son, Andrew Dickson, was born on August 3, 1964. Their third son, Edward James, was born on December 13, 1965. Theodore Richard, the youngest, was born on April 3, 1974.
Raising kids, practicing law, hunting and fishing kept Bob busy while the kids were growing up in a white farm house east of Wolsey. Other events Bob enjoyed were hosting annual family gatherings on the 4th of July, opening weekend of pheasant season and on New Year's Eve. All of these things were trumped by the simple pleasures of spending time with members of his extended family and speaking with his siblings in German.
Rheba passed on August 16, 1995. Bob was always grateful to his friends and family for all of the assistance and support they offered to him during this difficult time in his life. Any investment he had made in his community was returned to him a hundred times over by your kind thoughts, actions and words.
A few years later Bob started seeing Wanda Bailey and they were married on April 6, 2003. Bob and Wanda enjoyed fishing, gardening, planting trees and spending time in their yard. The fresh vegetables from their garden were at the center of his favorite meals and he enjoyed sharing the details about each tree in their yard. Wanda was a nurse and her care and support allowed Bob to spend his final years in their home in southeast Huron. Two loyal dogs, Liebschen and Puff, shared their home as well.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Rheba; a grandson, Jeff Haeder; a daughter-in-law, Charly Haeder; four brothers, Otto, Paul, Richard, and Hugo; and two sisters, Gerda and Esther.
Grateful for having shared in his life are his wife, Wanda Haeder; four sons and their families, Robert Victor Haeder, II and his wife, Tracy Haeder, and their three sons Lee, Matt, and Paul and his wife, Amanda and their children, Esme and Sebastian; Andrew Dickson Haeder and his three sons, Tyler and his fiancee, Vanessa and their son, Ryker, and Kaiden and Kyler; Edward James Haeder and his wife, Lisa Haeder and their two daughters, Kayla and Emily; and Theodore Richard Haeder and his wife, Jenny Haeder and their four children, Cooper, Cash, Emma and Timber. Bob is also survived by Wanda's children and their families, Susan and Todd Yurk and their children, Michael and Payton, Heather and Kent Kreutz and their children, Taylor, Casey and Maddie, Marla and Tom Durfee and their children, Jason, Tyler and Nathan, Teresa and Brook Gravatt and their children, Dylan, Macy, Milana, and Riley, and Curtis VanDenBerg and his child, Raiden. He is also survived by one sister, Hilda Ulrich; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.