George Michael Anthony Hietter, Jr.
Bridgewater, SD
1934, 1791, Custer, F-12,
Amateur photographer George Hietter dies at 88
By DENISE D. TUCKER Argus Leader
HURON-George Hietter was a firm believer in being organized.
Through his love of photography, Hietter captured the trips that he and his wife, Petra took in their mobile home.
"He had sets of complete travel logs," said Hietter's daughter, Mary Langhorst of Bellevue, Neb.
Hietter would take the pictures and then pass them to his wife who would put captions to them.
George M. Hietter, 88, of Huron, died Thursday, Nov. 25, 1999, from cancer at the Huron Nursing Home.
"He took slides, snapshots and made movies of us while we were growing up. We're a well-documented family," Langhorst said.
Langhorst said her father was also an environmentalist. He had a way of saving everything and finding other purposes for them. It was a skill he learned while growing up and one that he passed on to his children.
"He saved the tinsel from the Christmas tree forever," Langhorst said.
George Michael Anthony Hietter Jr., was born March 3, 1911, in Salt Lake City. He lived in Peoria, IL., and Rome, IL., before moving to Bridgewater in 1921.
He graduated from Bridgewater High School in 1930 and then attended the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City. For one year, he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Later, he attended Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell. He completed a civil engineering course through the International Correspondence School. In 1938, he was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Resettlement Administration as an engineering aide.
He married Petra M. Helvik in 1940 in Mitchell. The couple lived in Lincoln, NE, before moving to Hettinger, N.D., where he served as the water-facilities engineer for the Farm Security Administration for North and South Dakota.
In 1944, he was transferred to Huron. And in 1947, he became a civil engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation. After one year, he was transferred back to the Farmers Home Administration and continued as the state engineer for South Dakota and Nebraska until his retirement in 1974. He then worked at Shoel and Madson Consulting Engineers in Huron and Minneapolis until 1976.
He was a lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus, a past grand knight of Huron Council No. 779 and past district deputy of the state Knights of Columbus. He was the first recipient of the John F. Kennedy Award given by the state council in 1965.
He was a registered professional engineer in South Dakota, a past member of the South Dakota Professional Engineers, American Society of Agriculture Engineers, American Water Works Association, and the South Dakota Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.
He was a member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Huron, where he served on the church council, cemetery board, a lector and lay minister. And he was active as a Boy Scout leader.
In addition to his wife and daughter, survivors include: one son, Thomas of Cary, IL; another daughter, Kathryn Elliott of Vancouver, Wash; six grandchildren; two great-grandsons; and one sister, Bernadine McCrea of Delavan, IL.
Services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Church of the Resurrection at Huron, with burial in St. Martin's Cemetery.
Visitation will be held Monday afternoon and evening at Welter Funeral Home in Huron.
Scripture service will begin at 7 p.m. Monday, followed by a Knights of Columbus rosary at the funeral home.
Reach reporter Denise D. Tucker by phone at 605-331-2335 or via e-mail at dtucker@argusleader.com
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