1926
Jim
2006
Jim Stengel
April 1, 1926 — April 3, 2006
He was a husband remembered for his wit, love, and devotion; a parent adored for his sense of fun; a boss known for technical brilliance and a fondness for his employees; a Navy veteran with a life-long love of the sea, and a community leader who never took himself all that seriously.
Jim Stengel, who ran Dakota Granite for 48 years, died April 3, two days after his 80th birthday, in Naples, FL, his winter home.
James Lowell Stengel was born April 1, 1926, in Milbank, the second child of Ezra and Helen (Bury) Stengel. He was drafted into the Navy during his senior year of high school and served as a sonar operator on the destroyer USS Stribling based in Key West, FL and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from 1945-46.
From his Navy service grew a love for the Caribbean and for sailing. The size or type of vessel didn't matter; he was as happy sailing in a 12-foot sloop around Big Stone Lake as he was on the many cruises he took throughout his life. He prided himself in never once being seasick.
Jim attended college on the GI Bill, first at the University of Colorado, then at North Central College in Naperville, IL, where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration.
During the summer of his junior year, he met Dorothy Mavis Fudge at a dance in Big Stone City. They were married in 1949 and after his graduation, moved back to Milbank, where in 1950 he took over management of Dakota Granite Company from his father, who was ill with leukemia.
Under his leadership as president and CEO, Dakota Granite grew from a small, 34-person operation into the third largest granite company in the country. During his years at the helm of Dakota Granite, Jim earned a reputation as an industry innovator, and was recognized as someone who was never afraid to take calculated risks to improve operations.
He designed or re-engineered much of the machinery used at Dakota Granite, his innovations becoming standard in the industry worldwide. The magazine Stone World honored him in 1988 as "Stone Man of the Year," one of only three such awards ever given.
In the granite industry, he was recognized as witty, genuine, non-political and tactful, his word as good as any written contract. In a feature article in 1963, Monumental News Review said, "His father, the late E.G. Stengel, an A.M.A. Director from 1945 to1948, was one of the most respected and successful members of the industry, and he would be proud indeed to know that his son has lived up to his heritage."
Asked what he felt best about from his tenure at Dakota Granite, he never mentioned this or his many other achievements. For him, it was when he closed the plant, chartered a plane and flew 150 Dakota Granite employees and their spouses to Hawaii in 1974. He did it again in 1976, this time taking company employees to Disney World in Orlando, FL.
"We were making money and common humanity would tell you to share some of what you have," he said in a 2002 Grant County Review interview.
He was President of the American Monument Association for 12 years, a director of Otter Tail Power Company for 30 years--to date its longest serving director--and a director of Dakota State Bank for 32 years, among many other appointments. He was a licensed pilot and sang with the Milbank Barbershop Quartet.
An avid gardener, he loved anything that had to do with nature, often taking his young kids for spring hikes out behind Lake Farley to search for early asparagus. He inherited a love for birds and green, growing things from his mother, Helen, and grew world-class tomatoes. He carefully planted and cared for a number of unique trees around his Fifth Street home, and was especially proud that he had managed to grow a California redwood tree successfully in the back yard.
In 1976, his wife, Mavis, died. They had three children, Deb, Cindy, and Jim, and adopted a son, Mark.
In 1979, Jim married Jean Gannon Jones of Milbank, a former high school classmate. As he was easing into retirement, they divided the year between their summer home at Big Stone Lake and their winter home in Englewood, FL. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1999.
Jim held a special love for the First Congregational Church in Milbank, where he was a longtime member of the choir and served on the church council as chairman until January 2006.
His kids remember him as a gentle man with a totally delightful, exuberant, goofy side which included driving them around town after church so they could sit on the back of the convertible and sing songs.
Walking hand-in-hand with his grandson Anthony at Big Stone Lake one day, Anthony asked, "Grandpa, are you four feet tall?" He very quietly said, "Well, no, honey, but I think I'm getting there."
He wanted his kids to find their own lives, be happy and do good things, but never had an "agenda" for them. It was similar to his philosophy toward his employees at Dakota Granite, about whom he always said, "Hire the best people you can find, and leave them alone."
Jim was preceded in death by his first wife, Mavis, and his son Mark Jeffrey Stengel. Survivors include his widow, Jean, of Milbank and Naples, FL; son Jim Stengel and wife Julie, Casper, WY; two daughters, Deb Stengel, Sarasota, FL, and Cynthia Stengel and partner Tom Cheatham, Durango, CO; three grandsons, Michael and Anthony Stengel, Casper, WY, and Mark Stengel, Jr., Ft. Thompson, SD; two stepdaughters, Jan Martin and husband Todd, Rapid City, SD, and Leigh Ann Bury, Sioux Falls, SD; four step-grandchildren, Alexis and Marina Martin, Rapid City; Clint Bury, Sioux Falls, and Amber Jean Pate and husband Patrick, Boston, MA; one step great grandson Rhodes Pate, Boston, MA; one brother Jack Stengel and wife Linda, Milbank; one sister, Mary Ann Newman and husband Dick, Santa Rosa, CA; one nephew, Daniel Newman and wife Sherry and their children, Steven and William, Ramona, CA; four nieces, Susan Stinson and husband Jason, and son Jacob, rural Corona, SD; Katharine Johnson and husband Dr. Michael, Sioux Falls; Susan Schuepbach and children, Aaron and Olivia, Vallejo, CA.; and Carolyn Newman and husband Edward Lisieski, and children Simon and Arlo, Bainbridge Island, WA.
Memorial services will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 22, at the First Congregational Church in Milbank. The Reverend Colleen Natalie-Lees will officiate. There will be no visitation. Inurnment in the family mausoleum in the Milbank City Cemetery will be private. The Emanuel-Patterson Funeral Home of Milbank is in charge of the arrangements.
Immediately following Jim's service, there will be a time for eulogies, sharing, entertainment, and lunch at the Midwest Dairy Institute located four miles south of Milbank on Hwy. 15 and two and one-half miles east. Transportation to both locations will be available for those not able to drive. Please call 432-4567 to arrange transportation. Memorials will be divided between the First Congregational Church of Milbank and the National Parkinson's Foundation.
The family invites everyone to attend and celebrate the life of this kind, wonderful man. Nothing made Dad happier than when the church was full.
Jim Stengel, who ran Dakota Granite for 48 years, died April 3, two days after his 80th birthday, in Naples, FL, his winter home.
James Lowell Stengel was born April 1, 1926, in Milbank, the second child of Ezra and Helen (Bury) Stengel. He was drafted into the Navy during his senior year of high school and served as a sonar operator on the destroyer USS Stribling based in Key West, FL and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from 1945-46.
From his Navy service grew a love for the Caribbean and for sailing. The size or type of vessel didn't matter; he was as happy sailing in a 12-foot sloop around Big Stone Lake as he was on the many cruises he took throughout his life. He prided himself in never once being seasick.
Jim attended college on the GI Bill, first at the University of Colorado, then at North Central College in Naperville, IL, where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration.
During the summer of his junior year, he met Dorothy Mavis Fudge at a dance in Big Stone City. They were married in 1949 and after his graduation, moved back to Milbank, where in 1950 he took over management of Dakota Granite Company from his father, who was ill with leukemia.
Under his leadership as president and CEO, Dakota Granite grew from a small, 34-person operation into the third largest granite company in the country. During his years at the helm of Dakota Granite, Jim earned a reputation as an industry innovator, and was recognized as someone who was never afraid to take calculated risks to improve operations.
He designed or re-engineered much of the machinery used at Dakota Granite, his innovations becoming standard in the industry worldwide. The magazine Stone World honored him in 1988 as "Stone Man of the Year," one of only three such awards ever given.
In the granite industry, he was recognized as witty, genuine, non-political and tactful, his word as good as any written contract. In a feature article in 1963, Monumental News Review said, "His father, the late E.G. Stengel, an A.M.A. Director from 1945 to1948, was one of the most respected and successful members of the industry, and he would be proud indeed to know that his son has lived up to his heritage."
Asked what he felt best about from his tenure at Dakota Granite, he never mentioned this or his many other achievements. For him, it was when he closed the plant, chartered a plane and flew 150 Dakota Granite employees and their spouses to Hawaii in 1974. He did it again in 1976, this time taking company employees to Disney World in Orlando, FL.
"We were making money and common humanity would tell you to share some of what you have," he said in a 2002 Grant County Review interview.
He was President of the American Monument Association for 12 years, a director of Otter Tail Power Company for 30 years--to date its longest serving director--and a director of Dakota State Bank for 32 years, among many other appointments. He was a licensed pilot and sang with the Milbank Barbershop Quartet.
An avid gardener, he loved anything that had to do with nature, often taking his young kids for spring hikes out behind Lake Farley to search for early asparagus. He inherited a love for birds and green, growing things from his mother, Helen, and grew world-class tomatoes. He carefully planted and cared for a number of unique trees around his Fifth Street home, and was especially proud that he had managed to grow a California redwood tree successfully in the back yard.
In 1976, his wife, Mavis, died. They had three children, Deb, Cindy, and Jim, and adopted a son, Mark.
In 1979, Jim married Jean Gannon Jones of Milbank, a former high school classmate. As he was easing into retirement, they divided the year between their summer home at Big Stone Lake and their winter home in Englewood, FL. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1999.
Jim held a special love for the First Congregational Church in Milbank, where he was a longtime member of the choir and served on the church council as chairman until January 2006.
His kids remember him as a gentle man with a totally delightful, exuberant, goofy side which included driving them around town after church so they could sit on the back of the convertible and sing songs.
Walking hand-in-hand with his grandson Anthony at Big Stone Lake one day, Anthony asked, "Grandpa, are you four feet tall?" He very quietly said, "Well, no, honey, but I think I'm getting there."
He wanted his kids to find their own lives, be happy and do good things, but never had an "agenda" for them. It was similar to his philosophy toward his employees at Dakota Granite, about whom he always said, "Hire the best people you can find, and leave them alone."
Jim was preceded in death by his first wife, Mavis, and his son Mark Jeffrey Stengel. Survivors include his widow, Jean, of Milbank and Naples, FL; son Jim Stengel and wife Julie, Casper, WY; two daughters, Deb Stengel, Sarasota, FL, and Cynthia Stengel and partner Tom Cheatham, Durango, CO; three grandsons, Michael and Anthony Stengel, Casper, WY, and Mark Stengel, Jr., Ft. Thompson, SD; two stepdaughters, Jan Martin and husband Todd, Rapid City, SD, and Leigh Ann Bury, Sioux Falls, SD; four step-grandchildren, Alexis and Marina Martin, Rapid City; Clint Bury, Sioux Falls, and Amber Jean Pate and husband Patrick, Boston, MA; one step great grandson Rhodes Pate, Boston, MA; one brother Jack Stengel and wife Linda, Milbank; one sister, Mary Ann Newman and husband Dick, Santa Rosa, CA; one nephew, Daniel Newman and wife Sherry and their children, Steven and William, Ramona, CA; four nieces, Susan Stinson and husband Jason, and son Jacob, rural Corona, SD; Katharine Johnson and husband Dr. Michael, Sioux Falls; Susan Schuepbach and children, Aaron and Olivia, Vallejo, CA.; and Carolyn Newman and husband Edward Lisieski, and children Simon and Arlo, Bainbridge Island, WA.
Memorial services will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 22, at the First Congregational Church in Milbank. The Reverend Colleen Natalie-Lees will officiate. There will be no visitation. Inurnment in the family mausoleum in the Milbank City Cemetery will be private. The Emanuel-Patterson Funeral Home of Milbank is in charge of the arrangements.
Immediately following Jim's service, there will be a time for eulogies, sharing, entertainment, and lunch at the Midwest Dairy Institute located four miles south of Milbank on Hwy. 15 and two and one-half miles east. Transportation to both locations will be available for those not able to drive. Please call 432-4567 to arrange transportation. Memorials will be divided between the First Congregational Church of Milbank and the National Parkinson's Foundation.
The family invites everyone to attend and celebrate the life of this kind, wonderful man. Nothing made Dad happier than when the church was full.