Elmer “Bud” McGraw

October 15, 1940 ~ February 11, 2012

Memorial services will be held at 1pm, Thursday, February 16, 2012, at Heartland Funeral Home in Brandon, with Chaplin Lara Pesce officiating.

Elmer Robert (Bud) McGraw was born October 15, 1940 to Elmer and Cleone (Derby) McGraw in a logging camp in Clackamas County, Oregon. About the age of two, he moved to live with his grandmother in Wynot, NE. He lived with her and attended school until the age of ten when his family moved to several different areas in the upper Midwest in search of work. At about the age of 15 or 16, he quit school to move to California to begin working himself. In 1957, Bud joined the Airforce. In 1960, he was discharged and he began working in the oil fields of Williston, ND and Wyoming. He also worked on ranches and drove trucks both over-the-road and in construction jobs. Bud moved to Sioux Falls in 1973 after he met his sweetheart, Sheryl, and began to settle down to start his family. In 1977, they were married in Sioux Falls and they had three boys.

Those that truly knew Bud knew that he had a tremendous sense of humor and was a great story teller! He always had a new joke or a story about the most current event in the news. He was well read and managed to have an opinion on just about everything. He loved to just hang out with his friends and family and be social. He had a way of saying just the right thing to make a person feel great about them self and smile. Bud like to fish and he and the boys used to go fishing. They usually didn’t catch anything but they got to have a lot of fun and were able to just hang out with their dad and they grew quit close to each other. Bud also loved his music! He even was a good singer back in his younger days. He used to sing some of his favorites but occasionally “forgot” the words and had to make up his own words to the song. His favorite varieties were anything Elvis, Oldies, Country and even the Blues. His favorite line that he was always quoting was “On the Road Again!”

Bud, 71, died Saturday, February 11, 2012, at the Royal C. Johnson Memorial VA Hospital in Sioux Falls.

Bud will be greatly missed by his wife; Sheryl, three sons; Michael (Jessisca), Sean (Andrea), and Eran McGraw, all of Sioux Falls, six grandchildren; Jordan, Jared, Daymian, Ireland, Jackson, and Bella, and one great-grandchild; Ashlynn.

Bud was preceded in death by his parents.

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