Darwyn Maas

Darwyn Maas, age 90, of Watertown, SD, passed away on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at Prairie Lakes Hospital. Funeral Services will be at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, October 4, 2024 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Watertown, SD. Pastor Paul Krause will officiate.

Visitation will be at the church on Friday starting at 10:00 a.m.

Burial will be at Lakeview Cemetery in Clear Lake.

Darwyn Gene Maas was born on July 2, 1934 in Marietta, MN to Walter Maass and Mabel Spring.  He was baptized into the Christian faith on July 22, 1934 at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Revillo, SD. His first years were in Revillo where his father operated an auto repair shop. When the marriage of his parents came to an end, Mabel then married George Beckman. On June 25, 1942, they were blessed with a baby daughter - Darlene. They lived near the intersection of highways 212 and 77 (now highway 15), where they also operated a gas station that included refreshments and a place to play cards. Darwyn was confirmed in the Lutheran faith at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Altamont, SD on September 19, 1948. (Along the way he lost the final “s” of his last name.)

He attended Revillo High School where he played basketball, football, and baseball. In one of the baseball games he pitched a no-hitter, drove in three runs, and still lost the game. He played the accordion (think “polka”), the saxophone (think “jazz”), and the piano. He was offered a job by a well-known local band to go on tour playing the accordion. He graduated from high school in 1952. A local pharmacist offered to pay for him to go to school to become a pharmacist and work at his pharmacy, but Darwyn declined. Having dealt with asthma and allergies through his youth, he chose to move to Colorado where those issues were reported to be far less severe. Darwyn came back to South Dakota to marry Shirley Ellen Nord of Milbank SD on September 11, 1954. They made their home in the suburbs of Denver, CO.

Darwyn studied and became certified to run a railroad station, but when they assigned him a station in Kansas, he decided that didn’t fit well with wanting to live in a place where allergies were less. He went to Denver University and was then hired by the Rocky Mountain Motor Tariff Bureau where he eventually became the Rate Committee Chairman for the western United States. While working for the Bureau he received an offer from Russia to move there and develop a system similar to what he worked on at the Bureau. He declined that offer. After retiring from the Bureau, he started his own company - Maas & Associates - and created a computer program that provided a rating system for the trucking industry in the United States. Darwyn had other cutting-edge ideas like promoting electric cars as a staple for work transit in the metro area of Denver.  He wrote and received responses from the Governor and representatives in Colorado who liked his idea! That vision is becoming a reality today.   

On October 21, 1955 Darwyn and Shirley were blessed with a baby boy - Delwyn Gene. In 1958 they lived in a mobile home in Lakewood, CO. That was where Pastor Victor Tiefel called on them, and they became members of St. Luke Lutheran Church in Denver. Over the following decades Darwyn served as secretary, treasurer, and president of the congregation.

In 1960 they built a home in Arvada, CO. In 1965 they were blessed with a baby girl - Sharlene Kay.

Darwyn loved fishing, camping, traveling, and dancing. His turkey gobble won him many accolades. He had a gift for training his dogs and parakeet. He also trained a rooster to crow on command. Then he made bets with customers at their gas station that he could make the rooster crow.

In November of 1985 Shirley passed away after a five-year battle with cancer.

On September 20, 1986 Darwyn and Ellen Hermann were married. Over the years they lived in Colorado and South Dakota. They were members of St. Luke’s in Denver, CO St. Paul’s in Lakewood, CO, Trinity in Watertown, SD, Berea in Sioux Falls, SD, and then back to Trinity in Watertown. Recently they celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary - thanking God for bringing them together and for their devotion to each other.

Darwyn is survived by his wife, Ellen; his son Delwyn (Jody), his daughter Sharlene (Ed) Chiappetti; his grandchildren David (Anna), Timothy (Alanna), Heidi de Leon (Peter), and Lisa Chiappetti; great-grandchildren Micah, Jonah, and Sarah Maas; his sister, Darlene (Chuck) Langerock; many nieces and nephews, and many, many friends.

Darwyn was preceded in death by his mother Mabel and his father Walter.

Arrangements by Crawford-Osthus Funeral Chapel www.crawfordosthus.com Watertown, Hayti, De Smet, Bryant, Arlington, Lake Preston, and Oldham

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