Funeral Mass for William F. "Bud" Dempsey will be held on April 2, at 10:30 am, at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish. Lunch will be served at the McKnight Community Hall following the committal at the Fairview Cemetery, White, with full military honors. Visitation will be held on Sunday, April 1, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm with a Liturgical Wake Service and Rosary at 7:00 pm at the Eidsness Funeral Home, Brookings.

William, known to friends as Bill and to family as Bud, was born on a farm near Athboy, Corson County, SD, on January 14, 1932, to his parents Elsie (Melicher) and Harry Dempsey.  In 1939, Bill moved with his family to a farm northeast of White.  Bill attended country school near White and graduated from White High School in 1950.

Bill joined the Air Force in 1951, and served for three years during the Korean War. He deployed to Korea as a radio operator serving with the 4901 Support Wing assigned to an Air Rescue Squadron. For his service, Bill was honorably discharged and awarded the Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

Bill married his high school sweetheart Ellen (Willmott) Dempsey in 1954. The couple settled on the family farm north of White following Bill's discharge.  They remained on the farm for over 30 years raising cattle, hogs and row crops.  Bill won many farming and conservation awards and was well known in the area as a Master Purebred Hampshire Pork Producer.

In 1972, Bill became very active promoting rural water system development. He was a project coordinator for a local engineering firm then served as the Benefits Manager for the South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems until his full retirement in 2002.

Bill is the past president of the Brookings Duel Rural Water System, the State Association of Rural Water Systems and South Dakota's Representative on the National Rural Water Association Board of Directors. He is a past president of the East Dakota Water Development District Board of Directors and served as a South Dakota State Conservation Commissioner.  He was a member of the Catholic Church of St Thomas More, the Knights of Columbus, and the American Legion (White Post 88).

Bill received numerous awards for his professional service including the Carroll Anderson Memorial Award for Voluntary Contribution to the Development of Rural Water in South Dakota (1978) and the National Rural Water Association "Founding Father" Plaque (1992).

Bill moved from the Brookings area to Omaha in 2009 to live with his daughter Beth and her family. William F. Dempsey, age 86, passed away peacefully at Beth's home in Omaha on Thursday, March 29, 2018, surrounded by many loved ones and friends.

Survivors include three children, Steven (Shelley) Dempsey of Brookings, Beth (Mark) Wagner of Omaha, Robert Dempsey of Oakland, CA and 11 grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and sisters, Joan Dempsey and Patricia (Wayne) Larson.

He was preceded in death by his wife Ellen (2001), daughter Sue, parents and three sisters, Irene (Horton) Steinmeyer, Rosemary (Joe) Wethington and Maxine (Sister M. Anthony, P.V.M.) and one grandchild Therese Wagner.

In Lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Fairview Cemetery in White, SD.