Cornelius Malachi Grogan, Jr., age 92, of Madison, formerly of Carthage and Lake Preston, passed away Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at Madison Regional Health System.

 

Memorial service will be 11 AM on Wednesday, May 22nd at Rustand-Weiland Funeral Chapel. Visitation will be 5-7 PM on Tuesday at the funeral chapel with a prayer service at 6:45 PM and will continue on Wednesday one hour prior to the service. Inurnment will be in Pleasant View Cemetery, Carthage at a later date. 

 

Cornelius Grogan Jr. was born May 24, 1931, in Sanborn, Iowa to Cornelius Malachi Sr. and Anna Marie (Block) Grogan. The family moved to South Dakota in 1933. In 1936, his mother Anna Marie died giving birth in a snowstorm. Cornelius and his siblings lived at Polo Catholic School until Cornelius was in the 5th grade. He was confirmed in 1939. They lived in the school August through May and came home in the summer with no one to care for them.

 

In 1943, Cornelius and his brother Bob were sent to Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska under the supervision of Father Flanagan. The movie “Boys Town” was based on Father Flanagan and his life there. The brothers ran away in 1945 hitchhiking to Miller, South Dakota where they lived with their brother Tom's wife Ilene while Tom was in the service. He went to school in Miller and Ree Heights until 8th grade. At the age of 14 Cornelius was hired as a farmhand where he lived with his boss for two years in Harold, SD. At 16 he went to Orient and Blunt to work as a farm hand until moving to Miller at the age of 18.

 

In 1951, Cornelius married Pearlene Reinhardt in Miller SD. After marriage they began living in a trailer house on Lake Louise. He was drafted into the service in 1952. He was stopped by Army officials as soon as he entered the bus. He had been reclassified to A-3 (deferment indicating that drafting an individual would create hardship on draftees’ family). He was married with a child on the way at the time. He was then hired as a farm hand in Miller, Highmore, and Ree Heights. The interview concluded with a handshake. The man who hired Corneilus told him later he knew he was going to hire him because he could feel the calluses on his hand.

 

In 1954, they moved to Manchester where he again worked as a farm hand for seven years. In 1961, Kelo Land held a Centennial Gold Rush in Manchester which was set up by Joe Floyd. Cornelius picked up Floyd at the airport which was located on the farm where he was employed. Cornelius, Stickler, and Greyer then started a food stand and named it “Rowdy Yates”. A nod to the Clint Eastwood series “Rawhide”. The Senator, Governor, Lawrence Welk, Captain 11, Wishbone, Clint Eastwood, and 150,000 other people attended the Gold Rush. Cornelius even served Clint Eastwood a sloppy joe free of charge. Each of the food stand men lost $25 apiece. A good amount for the time.

 

They rented a farm near Iroquois in 1962. One calm night Cornelius went outside to turn off the windmill. He saw a silent aircraft hovering 200 feet off the ground. It had no fumes or lights. He described it as a passenger jet with no wings or propeller but with long windows on the sides. As Cornelius looked up a man inside the aircraft looked down at him. The man had a long skinny face. Cornelius could see the man talking to someone but he only saw one individual in the aircraft. The aircraft took off heading south but within 100 feet the UFO disappeared. It took him years to tell anyone what he had saw.

 

The couple rented a farm in Carthage from 1965-1968. Later in 1968 they went to a farm auction at the courthouse in Howard and bought a farm acreage Southeast of Carthage. It was here where they raised their five children. In 1984 they sold the family farm and moved to the city of Carthage. They built, owned, and operated Carthage Cable which was the first cable business in Carthage. He was also the Mayor of Carthage until 1996.

He managed the Cabaret in Carthage for a year before moving to Iroquois in 1996 where he owned his own bar.

 

In 2007, the movie “Into the Wild” was filmed in Carthage. At the same time, the family home in Carthage was up for auction. They cast Cornelius in the bar scene at The Cabaret. He was able to meet Vince Vaughn, Sean Penn, and Emile Hirsch. He was also introduced to the sister and brother-in-law of Chis McCandless during filming.

 

He moved to Lake Preston, South Dakota in 2008 with Roselyn Sjolie. He helped spray trees at her Greenhouse. They were married in the eyes of God by Reverend Wanda McNeil.

He moved to Madison, South Dakota in 2022. He was the first client for the ICAP Community Health Program in Madison. They featured his picture on their first poster.

 

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers-Thomas, John, Lynn Grogan and Kenny Synder; sisters-Doris, Margeret Grogan and Phyliss Snyder.

 

Survivors include brother-Bob Grogan of Colorado; sons-Gary Grogan of DeSmet and Ricky Grogan of Dell Rapids; daughters-Roxanne (Jeff) Leighton of Madison, Dawn Grogan of Sioux Falls and Patty DeRaad of Sioux Falls; grandchildren-Ryan (Kate) Hanson, Lucas Grogan, Lindsay (Eric) Comes, Kristin (Shane) Molitor, Jesse (Kendall) Olson, Cody (Kristen) Leighton, Damian Leighton, Kelsey Brue, Lee and Jack Wesche, Jacob (Mirrisah) DeRaad, Josh and Jada DeRaad; seven great-granddaughters and one great-great-granddaughter.