John Duane Baxa was born on May 16, 1930 to John and Nettie (Konop) Baxa, in their farm house near Dixon, South Dakota.  In 1935 Duane and his family moved to a farm west of Burke.  Then in 1938 the family moved to a farm southeast of Herrick.

Duane attended grade school and graduated from the St. Charles High School on May 22, 1947.  He was drafted into the Army and served time in Korea as a mechanic.  While he was in Korea his beloved father passed away.  He received an honorable discharge to come home and help on the farm.

Some of Duane's passions and hobbies included playing the piano and working for Leo and Sylvia Simon at the Herrick dance hall.  He loved his bicycles, motorcycles, Ford tractors and his three pickups, two cars and farm truck.  Duane also loved his gas lanterns!

Duane found great pleasure in simple things, like a good meal, a good song, petting a dog and a good drink of water.  Potatoes had to be grown every year to fill the cellars.  Even though that meant a lot of hard manual labor, Duane loved his potatoes.  He loved that planting and digging them by hand was done with the help of family members of ALL ages.  There was a lot of fun had throwing those darned potatoes at each other!

Duane loved to grow crops and raise livestock until health issues forced him to move into assisted living. Duane loved the land and he still found joy in visiting the farm whenever possible.  Duane was always very considerate of everyone's feelings.  Even when his failing health required help from others, he often said he didn't want to be a burden to anyone.

Duane never wasted anything! Even when in the hospital and not feeling well enough to eat all of his meal he asked the nurses to save it for later – 'Don't waste it.'

John Duane Baxa left this earthly home to rejoin his dad and family at the farm in Heaven on Monday, February 26, 2018 from the Burke Community Memorial Hospital at the age of 87 years.  Duane is survived by his sister-in-law Marilyn Baxa, cousins Stanley Konop, Bonnie Foote, Darrel Konop and Lillian Trautman.  Duane is also survived by many nieces and nephews.  He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Ruby (Roy) Stevicks, and his brother Bernard Baxa.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 10:00 AM at Clausen Funeral Home in Burke, SD.  Burial will be in the Herrick Cemetery, Herrick, SD.  Visitation will be Friday from 5 pm until 7 pm at the funeral home.