Clifford Sherard

Dates

Obituary

Clifford Sherard, 84, of Alexandria, SD, died Saturday, October 26, 2024, at Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls. Visitation will be Monday, October 28, from 5-7:00 PM at Bittner Funeral Chapel with a 6:30 PM prayer service. Burial will be in Hurley Cemetery at Hurley, SD.

Clifford Merritt Sherard was born October 9, 1940, to Merritt (Mac) and Mary (Wipf) Sherard in Hurley, SD. He joined his older sister, Hyla, and lived his early years on the farm outside of Parker, SD where the family raised chickens. Cliff was the skinny scrawny boy who constantly had to belt his pants to keep them on his hips. He seemed to have constant energy whereby he earned his childhood nickname of “Jigger” which followed him into adulthood for his close family members.  He attended Dakota State University for a brief period and was part of the Air Force Reserves for a period of time during his late teens and early 20s.

Cliff met and married Carol Veen in Sioux Falls, SD and were married on April 3, 1965. They celebrated 53 years of marriage prior to Carol passing in August of 2018. Initially they lived on a farm outside of Hurley, SD, but later moved to Beresford, SD when he gave up the farm life (and half of his left hand pinky finger) to become a feed salesman for Golden Sun Feeds.  He later changed employers to Supersweet Feeds when they moved to Alexandria, SD in spring of 1972 with three little kids in tow. There were three Sherard kids that lived out their youth in Alexandria – Cheryl, Christie, and Chad. In August of 1984, Cliff made the leap to study and earn his various insurance licenses and purchased the insurance agency in Alexandria from A.V. Zender which he renamed to Sherard Insurance Agency where he worked until his retirement along with Sherard Land and Auction Services and various side ventures. 

Cliff was so proud that each of his children attended and graduated from college. The girls graduated from the University of South Dakota with accounting degrees and Chad graduated from South Dakota State University with a pharmaceutical degree. Upon graduation, the girls’ jobs took them out of state. For Cheryl, it was the states of Utah, California, Iowa, and Washington. Christie’s path started in Gillette, WY, and Denver, CO, before she moved and settled in the Seattle, Washington area in June of 1995. Chad started his career in Canton, SD, later moved to the Seattle area before heading back to reside in Hartford, SD during early 2005.

Cliff was blessed with four grandchildren, three boys and one girl (who we believe was the favorite of course). The first grandson, Dawson John Bakker was born in January 1999 followed by Cole Clifford Bakker in June of 2001. His granddaughter, Shelby Isabel Sherard arrived in April 2003 followed by Dylan Gabriel Sherard in December of 2004. Cliff did his best to be active in his grandkids’ lives. His two Bakker boys had a love for baseball which was an opportunity for Cliff to travel to the states of Washington, California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and New York for various baseball tournaments to watch his boys play. The Sherard grandkids would often see Grandpa along the Cross Country course, football field, baseball field, basketball court or soccer field where Shelby and Dylan were participating in their various sports they loved. Cliff especially loved going fishing and spending time at the lake upon retirement. He did not have a lot of luxuries in life but always enjoyed driving around his “toys” - the ’86 Red Corvette and Harley trike.

He is survived by his children, Cheryl Frear of Renton, WA, Christie (Bryan) Bakker of Federal Way, WA, and Chad (Stephanie) Sherard of Hartford, SD, and his grandchildren, Dawson Bakker of Madison, SD, Cole Bakker currently attending Montana State University in Billings, MT, Shelby Sherard and Dylan Sherard for which both are currently attending Dakota State University in Madison, SD.

Cliff is preceded in death by his wife, Carol, his parents, and his sister.

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