Thomas Hitchcock, age 69, of Huron, passed away Friday, January 21, 2022, at his home.

His funeral service was held at 11:00 AM Saturday, January 29th at Trinity Lutheran Church Hildreth, Nebraska, with a burial to follow at the Hildreth Cemetery. His funeral service was live-streamed on the church's YouTube channel:  click here.

Visitation was held from 1:00 to 7:00 PM, Thursday at the Kuhler Funeral Home, in Huron, South Dakota, with his family present from 5:00 to 7:00 PM Thursday evening.

Memorials may be directed to: Friends of SD Hockey Scholarship https://www.sdaha.org/fsdh

Thomas Paul Hitchcock was born November 5, 1952, to Joe and Leona (Hemje) Hitchcock at Minden, Nebraska. He was baptized and confirmed in St. Paul's Lutheran in Hildreth, Nebraska. Tom graduated from Hildreth High School in 1971. In 1975, he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Kearney State College, Kearney, Nebraska.

On August 14, 1976, Tom married Susie Rauscher at Grand Island, Nebraska. They made their first home in Hastings, Nebraska.

Tom worked in the energy industry for over 46 years, with primary emphasis in natural gas utility and ethanol administrations. From 1975 to 1995, he held various positions with KN Energy, Inc. (now known as Kinder-Morgan, Inc) at Hastings, Phillipsburg (Kansas) and Lakewood (Colorado). Two of those years, Tom worked for Midlands Energy Corporation (a spin-off company of KN) as Chief Accountant until they were acquired by Freeport-McMoRan, at which time he returned to KN. In 1995, Tom accepted the position of Vice President at NorthWestern Energy at Huron, South Dakota. From 2001-2007, Tom owned his own consulting business, providing services relating primarily to value-added agricultural ventures. In May 2007, Tom joined Redfield Energy, LLC, at Redfield, South Dakota, and was serving as Chief Executive Officer at the time of his death.

Tom was an innovative and fearless leader in the ethanol industry. He was always looking for ways to separate Redfield Energy from the rest of the competition. Redfield Energy was the first plant in the nation to install Fiber Separation Technology. He was instrumental in partnering with the South Dakota State University Research Center looking for new ways to utilize ethanol and distillers. This led to the creation of Prairie Aquatech where he served as a board member. He was also a member of the South Dakota Ethanol Producers Association board. He forged strategic partnerships with Agtegra, Eco-Energy, Futures One, Farm Credit, Summit Carbon Solutions, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and was looking for ways to reduce the carbon score of the ethanol produced at the plant in order to gain a higher netback for the investors. He was a mastermind at risk management strategies and always seemed to know the right time to make a deal.

Tom was active in football, basketball, and track in high school and often "replayed" stories of games and the scores. He was a whiz with numbers. Tom served on numerous church and non-profit boards. After moving to Huron, he was active in hockey even though he never played the sport, serving as Huron's pee-wee team representative and finance chair, Huron's Vice-President and President, Huron's Representative on the SD Amateur Hockey Association Board of Directors, SD State Vice-Present and President, and as a member of the USA Hockey's Northern Plains District Board of Directors. He was instrumental in establishing an All Stars Hall of Fame, in helping revive the Thanksgiving Tournament by bringing in teams from Canada and South Dakota to Huron, scoring of awards given at the Varsity State Tournament, and other financial services.

Grateful for having shared in his life are his wife, Susie, of Huron, South Dakota; his children, Lindie DeBlois of Bridgeport, Nebraska, Andrea (Andrew) Thomas of Hastings, Nebraska and Jeffrey (Amber) Hitchcock of Franklin, Tennessee; his grandchildren, Nolan, Fallon and Addison DeBlois, Sailor Hitchcock and Baby Thomas due in June; his brothers, John of Hildreth, Nebraska and Michael of Clay Center, Nebraska; his in-laws, Mary (Steven) Humphrey of Strasburg, Colorado; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents and in-laws, Reinhold and Alta Rauscher; and a niece.

View Tom's Floral Arrangements