Richard Louis Cope
November 11, 1936 ~ August 25, 2018
Richard Cope, 81, Brandon, died Saturday, August 25, 2018, at Dougherty Hospice Home in Sioux Falls.
Visitation with family present will be 5-7pm, Wednesday, August 29, 2018, at Heartland Funeral Home. Funeral services will be 1:00pm, Thursday, August 30, at Heartland Funeral Home, with visitation beginning one hour prior. Interment will follow at the Canton Lutheran Cemetery, Canton, SD with Full Military Honors.
Richard “Dick” Louis Cope was born on November 11, 1936 in Florida, to Jessie Eugene and Madeline (Neuner) Cope. Dick was the oldest of three children and was raised and educated in Florida. He joined the Navy in 1954 where he was a jet mechanic. After he was discharged, he traveled to South Dakota to meet a friend in Huron to discover pheasant hunting. While he was there he met a young gal named Carol Hetlet. Dick returned to Florida for one month before coming back to South Dakota for Carol. They married the following July 5, 1959, in Huron, SD. Dick and Carol recently celebrated their 59th anniversary. In 1960 the couple moved to South Dakota where Dick worked as a mechanic, first at Ben Hur Ford, then DAKON (formerly Dakota Iron), before opening his own shop at Wall Lake Corner. In 1975, the family moved to Brandon, where they lived in the same house for 43 years. Dick and Carol opened several businesses selling t-shirts, fudge, jewelry, and other items in Deadwood, Sturgis, Okoboji, and Sioux Falls. Dick and Carol attended the 50th Anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Dick enjoyed collecting classic cars, guns, hunting pheasants and elk. Not long ago, he rode a dead elk out of the valley while being pulled by a fellow hunter after falling and hurting himself all while wearing his favorite bomber hat.
Dick was very innovative. He made his own t-shirt screen printers as well as many other useful business tools. He developed his own fudge recipe from scratch and made it with bulk products.
Dick loved his family, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Dick is survived by his wife, Carol, Brandon; three daughters, Tami (Kevin) Goembel, Worthing, Kris (Kevin) Mielke, Canton, and Wendy (Jim) Metzger, Brandon; six grandchildren, Dallas (Erica) Goembel, Dani (Nate) Finney, Matt and Ryan Mielke, Kaycee and Kenzie Metzger; three great-grandchildren, Thomas, Samuel, and Brynn; and one brother, Les (Shirley) Cope, Floida.
Dick was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Jeanette.
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