Dick Mudder, Jr., age 81, died Tuesday, May 24, 2016, at his home in Brookings. Funeral services will be 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 27, 2016, at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings, with interment at 3:00 p.m. Friday at the Hendricks, Minnesota, Cemetery. Visitations will be from 4-7 p.m. Thursday at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings. Memorials may be directed to the Brookings Hospice.

Dick Mudder Jr. was born June 24, 1934, near Sibley, Iowa, to Dirk Janssen and Ettje (Stapelmoor) Mudder. He and his family moved to a farm by Hendricks, Minnesota, in 1940. He went to country school for two years and finished his eight grades in Ivanhoe, Minnesota. He helped his dad and brothers farm and worked out for the neighbors until entering the Army in 1956. In 1958 he returned home and worked for Dick Crain on the farm. In 1959 he went to Hansen Mechanical Trade School in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1960 he moved to Brookings and worked for Cal Christie in his garage. He then went to work for the GM dealership and outlasted five bosses before going to work for Jerry Christensen and then Ron Dobesh, retiring in 1996. In 1996 after a trip to Germany to visit relatives and see where his mom and dad had lived, he went to work for the city utilities mowing grass, which he enjoyed for eleven years. During this time he also worked as a custodian for the schools. His hobby was work. In 2007 he retired again due to his on-going battle with prostate cancer.

The Mudders enjoyed 38 years of camping as a family, including 13 years with Melissa and Clint Anderson and grandchildren, Morgan and Austin. On February 2, 1974, he married Lynda R. Kleinheksel at Sterling Methodist Church north of Brookings. In 1979 he was overjoyed to welcome his daughter Melissa into his life.

Dick is survived by his wife of 42 years, Lynda; his daughter and son-in-law, Melissa and Clint Anderson; his beloved grandchildren, Morgan and Austin; brothers: Andrew of Hendricks, Minnesota, Vert of New Ulm, Minnesota, John (Mae) of Watertown, South Dakota, Harold (Lanora) of Mandan North Dakota; sister-in-law, Melva Prochel, of Apache Junction, Arizona; and many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews; and relatives in Germany. He was preceded in death by his parents, oldest brother, Henry; a younger sister in a miscarriage; sister-in-law, Kathleen Mudder; and nephew, David Mudder.