Joe A. Minyard, age 79, of Brookings, died Saturday, June 4, 2005, at the Brookings Hospital. Funeral services will be 10:30 A.M. Wednesday, June 8, 2005, at First Baptist Church in Brookings, with interment and military graveside rites at Greenwood Cemetery. Visitations will be from 5-8 P.M. Tuesday at Eidsness Funeral Home, with a public masonic service to be held at 8:00 P.M. Memorial gifts may be directed to the First Baptist Church. Joe Allen Minyard was born October 24, 1925, at Margaret, Foard County, Texas, the third of four children born to Hugh and Naomi (Orr) Minyard. He attended rural school in northeast Foard County and graduated from Crowell, Texas, High School. He served in the U.S. Army 83rd Infantry Division in World War II. He was captured by the German Army and served four months at the end of the war as a Prisoner of War. On July 21, 1945, he married Lea James of Vernon, Texas. Following military service, Joe and Lea farmed for two years before going off to college. Joe was an Ag-Education/Biology graduate of West Texas A&M University, Canyon. Following graduation, the Minyards moved to South Dakota, where Joe taught in the Dupree High School for two years. In May 1953 he joined the SDSU staff as County Extension Agent in Harding County. In 1955, they moved to Brookings where Joe served as Instructor in Animal Science and earned his Masters Degree in Animal Breeding and Genetics. He subsequently taught and did research in the Department of Animal Science, served for many years as Extension Beef Cattle Production Specialists, served as Director of the West River Research and Extension Center in Rapid City, District Extension Supervisor for Western South Dakota, and Professor and Head of the Department of Animal and Range Sciences. He retired from South Dakota State University on June 30, 1987. Joe was a longtime member of First Baptist Church, where he served in numerous ways. He was a member of the Brookings Masonic Lodge, Brookings York Rite Masonic Bodies, the Order of the Eastern Star, Red Cross of Constantine, Scottish Rite Masons, and El Riad Shrine. He was a member of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, Brookings Golden K Kiwanis Club, and the Hoffman-Townsend American Legion Post No. 74. He served on the Board of Directors of the Volunteer Service Bank. He especially enjoyed hunting, fishingespecially trout fishing in the Black Hills, golf, and time spent with his family. Survivors include his wife, Lea, of Brookings; two daughters: Teresa (Bob) Snoozy of Omaha, Nebraska, and Judy (Dan ) Shuck of Eau Claire, Wisconsin; a son, Mark (Fatima) Minyard of San Ramon, California; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and his sister, Opal Ramsey, of Clarenden, Texas. He was preceded in death by his parents; an infant daughter, Sandra; and two brothers.