Darrel Eldon Janssen

The funeral service for Darrel Janssen, 88, of Tracy, will be Friday, September 8, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at the Tracy Lutheran Church. Visitation will be on Thursday from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the Horvath Remembrance Center in Tracy. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Military honors will be provided by U.S. American Legion Post 173. Interment will take place at a later date at the South Dakota State Veteran’s Cemetery in Sioux Falls, SD.

Darrel Eldon Janssen was born on July 4, 1935, in Vienna, SD, to Albert (Stub) and Pearl (Matteson) Janssen.  Darrel graduated from Vienna Public School in 1953 and enlisted in the U. S. Army ten days later.  He served honorably in the U.S. Army from 1953-1956 and was stationed in Colorado Springs, CO, and deployed for his last year of active duty to Bad Kreuznach, Germany.  Upon returning home to Vienna, SD, he was employed by the U. S. Postal Service as a Rural Mail Carrier.  In 1957 Darrel met the love of his life Janis Kvam and married her 8 months later.  During their 66 year marriage they had three beautiful, devoted daughters.  In 1968 they purchased a farm in Hamlin County South Dakota where he was a grain farmer and raised cattle.  In 1974 he was transferred by the Postal Service to Tracy, MN, where he retired after 39 years of service.  After his federal retirement he continued to enjoy farming by working the next 17 years with a local farmer during annual harvest.  

Darrel immersed himself in his family and his hobbies.  He loved horses and owned several (one not so nice!).  He liked travel...the driving kind...not the flying kind, and took his family on annual trips around the United States. This also included jaunts with his circle of friends (the golfing and bowling ones) as well as close couples.  He was an avid golfer and bowler and spent countless hours to become as proficient at these activities as he could.  He also played cards his whole life and would never pass up a good game of cribbage, pinochle, whist or 31.  Darrel was a member of the American Legion for 63 years and 40 + years of perfect attendance in Tracy Lions Club (I'm also very sure that he was always on time!).

Darrel passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 2, 2023, at the Prairie View Health Care Center in Tracy, MN.  Grateful for having shared in his life are his wife Jan Janssen of Tracy, MN; his children, Patsy (Robert) Rand of Maynard, MN, Dana (Jason) Helle of Clarksville, TN, and Jill Scharafanow of Burnsville, MN.  Four grandchildren: Cassie (Andrew) Nielson, Chad Rand, Cody (Trista) Rand, and Tyler (Amelia) Scharafanow, and five great grandchildren: Andy and Jana Rand, and Adalynn, Grant and Raegan Nielson. Sister Ronda Laube of Bryant, SD, nephews, nieces and MANY friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister Donna Dede, as well as Janis’s parents Lester and Marie Kvam.