Merwyne D. Kruse, age 68, died Monday, May 18, 2009, at the Brookings Hospital in Brookings, South Dakota. Funeral services will be 10:30 A.M. Friday, May 22, 2009, at the Brookings Wesleyan Church in Brookings, with interment in First Lutheran Cemetery. Visitations will be from 5-8 P.M. Thursday at the Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings.

Merwyne Dale Kruse was born November 23, 1940, at Hendricks, Minnesota, to Matthew A. and Anna Josephine (Fischer) Kruse. He accepted the Lord as his savior as a child. Merwyne attended his early school years at Country School District No. 60 near White/Toronto and later at Astoria, graduating in 1959 from Astoria High School.

The family moved to Brookings after Merwyne graduated from high school, where he worked at a service station. He joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Waynesville, Missouri. On May 16, 1964, he was united in marriage with Velda Hanson. They continued to live in Brookings where Merwyne faithfully worked as a milkman for 41 years, starting as door to door service and ending as a semi-trailer driver.

Survivors include his wife, Velda, of Brookings; two daughters: Tammy (Doug) Butterworth of Nixa, Missouri, and Darla (Greg) Landmark of Eagan, Minnesota; five grandchildren: Brittany and Ethan Butterworth, and Hannah, Ryan, and Charlotte Landmark; two brothers: Dwayne (Eloise) Kruse and Ron (Esther) Kruse, both of Brookings; two sisters: Verna (David) Hicks of White, South Dakota, and Ramona Kruse of Lincoln, Nebraska; and one brother-in-law, Eugene Tuttle, of Lincoln, Nebraska. He was preceded in death by her parents Matthew A. and Anna, and one sister, Kathy Tuttle.