Donald James Kellar, 95, passed away Sunday, December 22, 2019 at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Don was born December 24, 1923 in Lake Preston, SD to Benjamin and Alma (Stevenson) Kellar. He grew up on a farm outside De Smet, SD, graduated from De Smet High School and served in the US Navy on a PT boat tender in the Philippines during World War II. While in the Navy he met his future wife Rita, from Boston, at a USO dance in San Francisco.

After the war Don and Rita were married and moved to the De Smet area where they farmed and taught in a 1-room country school. Later they moved to Casper and then Newcastle, Wyoming where Don and a friend ran a small business doing maintenance work on oil rigs. After living in Wyoming, Don moved his growing family to Edgemont, SD where he operated a service station. During the winter months there he paid high school boys to hunt jack rabbits for him. Don then sold the jack rabbit skins to a company that used them to make wearing apparel. After a year in Edgemont the family moved to Rapid City where Don operated service stations for many years; operated a tire store; and then worked as a custodian at the SD School of Mines and in the Rapid City School District. When Don wasn\'t at work, he was always busy doing home maintenance projects. He tirelessly re-shingled the roofs and repainted the insides and outsides of two houses the family lived in, in Rapid City.

Don was a sports fan. While in high school he was an accomplished athlete in football and track & field, where he specialized in the shot put and discus. While in the Navy, at basic training in Idaho, he won the camp boxing championship for his weight class. Don enjoyed being a baseball coach in the Harney Little League when his son Jim was a player.

Don was a successful hunter. He enjoyed hunting prairie deer and antelope in western SD, and returned to his roots in eastern SD for pheasant hunting. Don was also an avid back yard gardener; he grew mostly cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and spinach. He also liked to make choke cherry wine using choke cherries that he picked on Skyline Drive and Dinosaur Hill.

Don performed his civic duty by serving as a councilman on the Rapid City Council.

When their kids were growing up Don and Rita took them on summer vacations to such far flung places as the Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls, Boston, Rockport, Massachusetts; and Canada. After the kids were grown, Don and Rita traveled to Hawaii, Ireland, Italy and Australia.

Don was preceded in death by his wife Rita Marie; his parents Benjamin and Alma; his brothers Eldon, Larry, Dale and Earl; his sisters Alma, Alva and Marjorie; his daughter Mary Kathleen (Gerald Butz); and his daughter-in-law Linda (Joseph). Don is survived by his brother Vince, Sioux Falls; his children Ann Marie, Renton, WA; Joseph, Mukilteo, WA; Thomas (Teresa), Rapid City; and James (Annie), Newcastle, Australia; his eleven grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Don thoroughly enjoyed living at Echo Ridge in Rapid City the past several years. The family wants to thank all of the staff there for their friendly, compassionate care. Sincere thanks also go out to the staffs at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home (Serenity Place) at St. Martins and Rapid City Regional Hospital who cared for Don in his final days.