Glen Earl Nachtigal, 89, of Brookings passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, July 31, surrounded by his children. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 6, at Ascension Lutheran Church. Visitations will be held at Eidsness Funeral Home from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, August 5, with a masonic service at 7 p.m. Memorials may be directed to Ascension Lutheran Church or the South Dakota State Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings.

Glen was born June 17, 1927, on a farm on Scalp Creek, near Fairfax, SD, the fifth of Emil and Kate (Sabin) Nachtigal's ten children. In 1931 the family moved across the Missouri River to a farm at Academy, SD, and Glen graduated from Platte High School in 1945. He immediately volunteered for the U.S. Navy and was aboard a captured Italian liner sailing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco the day after World War II ended. Glen spent a year on the USS Mango repairing bombed-out lighthouses in the Philippines and laying buoys for the decommissioning of ships at Subic Bay.

In 1946 Glen enrolled at South Dakota State College (now SDSU), where he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in agriculture and studied corn breeding under Dr. Boyd Shank. In 1952 he joined Sokota Hybrid Seed Co. in Brookings, a fledgling seed corn company begun by his mentor Wilmer Davis, as a field representative and assistant manager. He loved working in the corn industry and rose through the ranks over the next three decades and served as Sokota's general manager from 1977-85, when the company was sold. He then helped start up Producers Hybrids in Battle Creek, NE, which became one of the top 15 seed companies in the United States, retiring in 2002.

Glen married Doreen Thompson of Brookings, a Sokota secretary, in 1955, and they raised five children. The couple enjoyed extensive travel around the globe after retirement, and both were proud that their alma mater named the Nachtigals as the SDSU Family of the Year in 2005.

Glen enjoyed coaching his sons' baseball teams, attending his children's and grandchildren's activities, fishing outings and spirited card games with the grandkids, and being an active community volunteer. He delivered Meals on Wheels well into his 80s, donated the harvest from his bountiful gardens and orchard to neighbors, friends and strangers, and drove thousands of miles transporting patients to and from Sioux Falls for specialized medical treatment through the Brookings Volunteer Service Bank.

Glen and Doreen were charter members of Ascension Lutheran Church, founded in 1962, where he twice served as board president. He was a 50-year member of the Brookings Lions Club and Brookings Masonic Lodge, lifetime member of the American Legion and VFW, and a longtime member of the Elks Club, Golden K Kiwanis Club, El Riad Shrine, Brookings Shrine Club and Brookings Senior Center.

He is survived by daughters Nancy Nightengale of Henderson, NV, and Jane Eastlund (Dale) of Bloomington, MN; sons Jim (Susan) of Holden, MA; Jerry (Ann) of Sioux Falls, SD, and Jon of Claremont, CA; seven grandchildren: Alysha (Manny) Langstraat and Ryan (Brittany), Reid, Jack and Libby Nachtigal, and Kate and Chris Eastlund; three great-grandchildren: Carson, Grady and Tenley Langstraat; and sisters Doris Duba of Bullhead City, AZ, Florence Lang (Roger) of Byron, MN, and Irma Natvig of Sioux Falls. He was preceded in death by wife Doreen on July 19, 2014, and siblings Allen, Jim, Don, Ralph and Gladys Nachtigal and Ruth Anton.