Wednesday, January 28, 2026 the Wagner Rotary meeting started off with all Rotarians enjoying a wonderful noon lunch prepared for us by Two Spurs Steakhouse and catching up with fellow Rotarians at their tables. President, Jamie Soukup rang the bell to bring the meeting to a start and all Rotarians joined in saying our Rotary grace. Jeannie Crowe introduced her guests for today: Dick Crabtree who will give the program during the meeting and her husband, Mike Crowe who was also the meal delivery person today.

The first item of business was the installation of new member, Carson Koehn who is sponsored by Rotarian Allison Woods. President Jamie Soukup read the ceremony of installation and welcomed Carson into our group. Carson works at Juffer Inc. in Wagner and we are happy to have him join our Wagner Rotary Club.

Song leader, Rachel Woods introduced our song for today titled “Sing Rotarians” and she said it would be even more special as she had the musical accompaniment on her phone.

Rotarian Patty Frei presented the Membership Minute which was an excerpt from the District 5610 January newsletter that all Rotarians receive via email. The Rotary International President-elect Olayinka H. Babalola spoke at Rotary’s International Assembly in Orland, Florida, USA, on 12 January. Babalola called on members to create lasting impact by making their clubs more welcoming, carrying out impactful projects, and allowing their Rotary experiences to transform them personally. Babalola’s quote “Rotary has changed us. It has shaped who we are and made us better people,” “We often talk about changing the world. We talk about ending polio, about building peace. We do not think enough about how Rotary transforms us.” “If we can change ourselves, we can change our districts,” he said. “If we can change our districts, we can change the communities we serve. And if we can change our communities, we will change the world.” Each Rotarian receives a copy of the District 5610 newsletter in our email. Patty Frei then encouraged the members to go read the full article of President-elect Babalola’s speech.

Seargent at Arms Gerrit Juffer took his turn at the podium to levy the following fines on his fellow Rotarians: Bill and Patty Frei each $1 for being gone during the cold weather last week. Bill Frei and Jerry Weber each $1 for talking during the membership minute and not giving their attention to the message. Jamie Soukup $1 for fixing the front door with a bohemian fix. Craig Krsnak $1 for the de-icing machine running into his plane and cancelling his trip. Jerry Henke $1 for his VIP Parking to which his wife Kathe offered up a Happy Fine of $87 in honor of Jerry’s 87th birthday today. Jerry added another $13 Happy Fine to make it 100 (Kathe’s favorite number). Jerry was very happy adding extra happy fines of $5 for a great nurse in Sioux Falls and $5 for an article on tech schools in the CME magazine. Ted Honke offered a $5 happy fine for a nice conversation he had with President Jamie’s dad during a basketball game. Josh Christensen had a $3 happy fine for his child’s recent baptism. And Jerry Weber had a $2 happy fine for President Jamie’s favorite football player.

Jordan Weber held the lucky ticket for the chance to draw the Queen of Hearts. Jordan drew the 7 of Diamonds so the Queen of Hearts pot of $49 continues to next week.

Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak reported that the Ted Honke team had perfect attendance today with the Debbie Houseman team seeing two misses. This brings the team totals to Ted’s team leading with only two misses to Debbie’s team having seven misses so far this quarter.

Jamie informed the group that he made an executive decision to wait to replace the entrance door until Jeff Doom returns and the maintenance committee can assess the situation.

Rotarian Jeannie Crowe oversaw the program for today’s meeting, and she introduced her speaker, Dick Crabtree, to talk about the Riverview Cemetery in Pickstown.

Originally the Town of Pickstown didn’t have a cemetery as the initial town was considered temporary when it was created in the 1940’s to house workers building the Fort Randall Dam. He said the talk of creating a cemetery in Pickstown started years ago over coffee at Abby’s. He said that Richard Dvorak mentioned that he knew of a perfect spot for a cemetery on the hillside across the old road alongside the Randall Hills Country Club driving range. Dick said that when they first presented the idea to the Pickstown City Council they were all overwhelmed by the idea. So, they went back to the drawing board and created a committee of seven Pickstown area residents and worked for six to seven months on a new proposal to present to the town council. He said that Jim Jaeger, former area mortician, was helpful in helping them set up a cemetery that was different from any other area resting place. To do this they had three specific things that they needed to incorporate into their plan. 1) That all headstones would lay flat to make maintenance and mowing easier. 2) To include a Columbarium-a structure of cubicles to hold urns of cremated remains, providing a dignified, space-efficient alternative to traditional burial with an engravable front. 3) To set aside a portion of the cemetery for “natural burials”.

Dick stated that the group needed to set up non-profit designation and register the cemetery with the state. He said Ken Cotton was very helpful to get this set up and donated his services. When the cemetery committee went to the council the 2nd time, they were more prepared and the council said that if they could get the non-profit designation, that the city would deed the property over to them. That was when the real work began. Even though it was a beautiful location, it happened to be covered with cedar trees, rocks and snakes. Dick said the first year was spent cleaning up the area by removing cedar trees and rocks and killing many snakes. After clearing the space, they needed to add a perimeter fence. Kenny Nelson plowed rows that would eventually be roads through the cemetery. Steve Fuchs donated gravel and Burton Weaver donated wrought iron he happened to have in his barn that they could make gates from. The Columbarium was of marble and granite was ordered and Abe Rivas provided the cement foundation. Dick clarified that they couldn’t have done anything without all the donations from everyone in the area. He said even the original committee donated the cash just to apply for the non-profit status.

The work on the land started in June 2014 and by June 2017 they were ready for the first burial in the Riverview Cemetery. They currently have 720 cemetery plots available and they have sold a little over 40 already. And they have sold 25 of 48 spots in the Columbarium. Dick stated that they have plans to order a second columbarium and have thoughts of installing a garden in that area as well. They do have a nice bench in this area where people can sit and enjoy the beautiful scenery or watch the sun go down. Dick informed the group that Richard Dvorak was instrumental and pitched in every time something needed to be done with the cemetery. Dick said that originally, he and Richard had planned to come talk to Rotary together and sadly Richard passed away earlier this month.

Dick answered several questions that the Rotarians had. They do have to abide by state law and caskets need to be placed in burial vaults. However, the natural burials area is different, those do not involve a vault, but those burials must happen within 24 hours of a death with the mortician and/ or law enforcement present.

The cost for a burial plot is $400 and a place in the columbarium is $550. The plot size in the Riverview Cemetery is four and a half feet wide by fourteen feet long, which is longer than the standard plot. This is to allow room for the mandatory f lat headstones. And when asked if there was anything they would do different? He said maybe a different fence along the front, since it is along the driving range-golf balls and plastic fencing don’t hold up well. He said they have a group of volunteers that take turns mowing the cemetery.

President Jamie thanked Dick for coming to share with our group. And then we closed in our usual fashion by reciting The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do 1. Is it the TRUTH? 2. Is it FAIR to all concerned. 3. Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?