Earl was born January 4, 1937 to Earl and Elsie (Pugh) Remington, Sr., at their home near Fairpoint, SD. After he was born his dad handed him to his sister Eva and said, “He’s all yours” (that’s what Eva said anyway). He was raised along with his sisters, Eva and Loretta, and brothers, Cecil and Melvin. Out of all the kids, Mel was the only one born in a hospital. They all attended grade school at the Atall School, about 5 miles from the house. Sometimes his folks would take them to school, but most of the time they walked all the way home at night, about 5 miles one way.

     When he was about 10, Virgil Bennett and he were playing shadow tag at school and they ran into each other, with Virgil breaking Earl’s toe. He walked home that night and when he got there his mom said, “Go get the goats”, which were over at their neighbor Don Remington’s place. When he got back his foot was swelled up so bad, he couldn’t get his boots off and his dad had to cut them off (being careful to cut them down the seam so they could be sewed back together)! A neighbor took them to town to see Dr. Massa, who sent them to Rapid City to Dr. O’Toole. The toe was set and he was in the hospital for a week. His mom and dad went home and he didn’t see them until they came to take him home. Shortly after this he woke up one morning and there was blood all over the sheets – the bone in the toe had come out the side of his foot. It was off to the doctor again and this time they took the bone out and it finally healed up. He had to walk on crutches for a long time, even home from school – all 5 miles of it – on crutches! Sometimes they rode horses to school and dad took them in the winter.

     He went to school at Atall school thru the 8th grade and then quit to get a job. He left home at 16 and took his first job working for John Hanzlik (LaVonne’s grandfather) where he was hired to do ranch work. The following year he went to work for Darwin Weiss and in the fall of 1957 was hired by John Wahl, working for him and his son for the next 3 ½ years. He really enjoyed working there, riding out to check on cows during calving season and he especially liked Ella’s egg custard.

     In 1955 he was baptized at the Presbyterian Church in Fairpoint by Reverend Eliason.

     After that job ended, he went to work for David Shaw at the Red Owl Garage, as a mechanic. He slept in a little room on the side of the house and Shaw’s furnished the meals. In the fall of 1959, he met Linda Chowen of Vale, soon to be his wife. After dating for a while, they were married at the Vale Lutheran Church on October 19, 1961. They lived in Red Owl in an 8 x 36 trailer they parked next to the garage. They had no running water and the winters were COLD! Their daughter was born in 1962 and after driving on ice all the way to Sturgis, Barbara was born 5 minutes after they got to the hospital – in a bed in the hallway. Seems she was in a hurry to get there! In 1963 he went to work for International Harvester in Spearfish. After a year the business closed and the couple moved back to Red Owl, this time in a 10 x 50 trailer with running water. He went back to work for David Shaw, making $350 a month.

     On a cold, blizzardy day in March 1966 their son was born. Linda had been staying in town with Earl’s folks, because the baby was late, so she was in the hospital waiting for the baby to come. Mel and Earl were also in town and about midnight a cop came and knocked on the door. He said there was a wreck on the highway and they needed to come to the hospital. When they got there the nurse said, “Oh, Linda’s having the baby. We wanted to get the cop out of here so we sent him to your house to get you.” Apparently, he got his stories mixed up! Craig LeRoy was born at 12:27 that night.

     The family remained in Red Owl to raise their little family until 1970 when they moved to Vale and started a dairy operation with his in-laws. They eventually bought their own place for $36,000 for 240 acres. They remained on the dairy until 2001, when they sold the place and moved into Vale.

     Earl is survived by his son, Craig (Teresa) Remington; son-in-law, Bud Ray; grandchildren, Michael Ray, Sumer Dawn, and Hannah Brooke; and great grandchildren, Autumn, Jaxon, Miles, and Aurora.

     He was preceded in death by his wife, Linda; parents and parents-in- law; daughter, Barb; and grandson, Tyler.

     In lieu of flowers a memorial has been established to Rainbow Bible Ranch, Sturgis, SD.