William "Bill" Paul Thies

William “Bill” Paul Thies…

was born on April 4, 1935 in a snow blizzard to Laurence and Julia (Sutherland) Thies in Moody County, SD. He attended school in Dailey District 18 in South Dakota through the eighth grade. He then went to Pipestone High School in Pipestone, MN, graduating in 1953. Upon completion of his education, he assisted his father in farming. On January 30, 1954, he was united in marriage to Doreen Smidt. Following their marriage, they resided in Pipestone. In 1987, he became employed by Pipestone County Star where he worked until 2002. Bill was diagnosed with degenerative Arthritis and had several surgeries to replace back and joints and had three bouts of cancer and CHF for several years. On October 5, 2018, he was admitted to the Pipestone County Medical Center where he passed away on Sunday, October 7, 2018 at the age of 83 years, six months and three days.

Bill was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Pipestone. He was confirmed in the Salem Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1950. In 1956, he joined Trinity Lutheran Church in Jasper, MN where he taught Sunday school for a number of years and also served for 46 years as a chairman, elder and secretary. At age 10, he joined Lone Rock 4-H club in Moody County and later was an assistant leader for many years. Bill showed many champions at county level and SD State Fair in Hampshire swine and Hampshire sheep. He was awarded Champion Sheep Showman at SD State Fair at the age of 15. One year at the Moody County Achievement days, Bill exhibited the champion poultry, champion market hogs, and champion in all the sheep divisions. He showed Shorthorn cattle at the county level. He was active in FFA and received the MN FFA State Farmer Award in 1953. He was a member of the MN Crop Improvement Association and raised soybeans and oats to be sold to area seed farmers. Bill was also a member of the Pipestone County Fair Board for 40 years and the last 27 years was co-manager with his wife, Doreen. He served on the Citizens Hospital Advisory Board. In 2012, he was Grand Marshall for the Pipestone Water Tower Days parade with the “Legends” theme. He served on rural District 35 school board for three years and 27 years on the Pipestone school board and during that time finished developing Paulsen field, helped with the planning of the softball complex and the new high school for Pipestone Area. He was active in sports and received letters in three sports, football, basketball and baseball. He started playing fast pitch softball at age 14 in a men’s league at Flandreau, South Dakota and was drafted by other teams and pitched in both MN and SD fast pitch state tournaments.

He is lovingly remembered by his wife of 64 years, Doreen Thies of Pipestone; seven children, Rebecca (Dallas) Stueven of Sioux Falls, SD, Debra (Scott) Simonsen of Waseca, MN, Stephen (Mary) Thies of Santa Fe, NM, Timothy (Joelle) Thies of Tea, SD, Craig (Pam) Thies of Pipestone, Pat Eischens of St. Peter, MN and Philip (Carmen) of Huron, SD; 14 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; three brothers, James (Del) Thies of Pipestone, John Thies of Luverne, MN, and Mark (Diane) Thies of Sioux Falls, and one sister, Judy Janssen of Pipestone. He was preceded in death by his parents; two granddaughters, Tara and Ashley Thies; sister and brother-in-law, Bruce and Mary Hargens; and sister-in-law, Judy Thies.