Roy B. Thiele

Roy Bornholdt Thiele, 95, of Sioux Falls, SD, formerly of Watertown, SD, passed away Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Sioux Falls.  Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. at Cornerstone Church in Watertown. Rev. Steve Anderson will officiate. The service will be livestreamed via our website.

Visitation will be held at the church on Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

Burial will be at Milbank City Cemetery, Milbank, SD, at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Roy was born in Glendive, MT, April 17, 1931, to Winnifred (Bornholdt/Siewert) and Herman Thiele. He was the youngest of four children. The family lived in Montana before moving to the Thiele family farm near Twin Brooks, SD. He attended grade school in Twin Brooks and graduated from Milbank High School in 1949.

On March 28, 1951, Roy married Roberta Zick in Watertown. They took over the farm at Twin Brooks. The family, by then including four children, moved to Portland, OR, in 1960, where Roy attended Cascade College to prepare for full-time Christian work. A year later, he took a course in diesel mechanics, then worked for Halton Tractor Company in Portland as a Caterpillar mechanic.

In July 1969, the family moved to Brandon, SD. Roy continued working as a Caterpillar mechanic until his retirement in 1995 from Butler Machinery (formerly Foster-Bell, then Kearns Machinery) in Sioux Falls. Roy and Roberta moved from Brandon to the Zick family farm near Waverly, SD, in 2009.  They lived there until moving to Edgewood Cedar View Memory Care Watertown in January 2026, where they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. In May 2026, they moved to Edgewood Memory Care Sioux Falls.

Roy is survived by his wife, Roberta, of Sioux Falls; a son, Glenn (Alica) Thiele of Brandon; three daughters: Donna Almarez of Las Cruces, NM, Gail (Greg) Splitt of Shakopee, MN, and Doreen (Tom) Boese of Springfield, SD; six grandchildren: Andrea Thiele (Jim Geiszler) of Mesa, AZ, Allen Thiele of Omaha, NE, Michelle (Creg) Boese-Empey of Moscow, ID, Victoria O’Connell of Rockford, IL, Benjamin Boese of Rockford and Yavonne Boese of Loves Park, IL; four great-grandchildren: Scarlett Thiele of Omaha, Samantha (Sami) and John (J.J.) O’Connell of Rockford, and Alvin Empey of Moscow; and nieces and nephews and their families.

Roy was preceded in death by his parents and his siblings: Evelynn Siewert/Hoem, Carl Siewert and Henry Siewert

Arrangements by Crawford-Osthus Funeral Chapel www.crawfordosthus.com Watertown and Hayti

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