By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

At one time in the history of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, there were more than 250 members in Dell Rapids. Now, there are only four causing the group that helped orphans, widows and elderly for more than 130 years to dissolve its charter.
“We helped people in hard times,” said Harvey Pederson, who has been a member since 1948 and was also the Grand Master in South Dakota in 1986 and 1987. “The Odd Fellows home was a place where children could go and live.”
Elaine Bokker of Dell Rapids was one of the last ones at the Odd Fellows Home in the community. She remembers during here time there from 1937 until the early 1940s of doing her share of work and peeling potatoes every evening. Bokker also remembers being lonely when she first got there, although her two sisters were in different rooms.
“I don’t remember much of my life before I got married,” she said. “If I hadn’t been in my home I wouldn’t have met my husband. I learned to get along with people.”
Bokker hated to see the Odd Fellows Home close because it brought back memories to her.
One reason that the Odd Fellows decided to end its charter in 2008 was because the group was down to four members – Pederson, Bob Waagmester, Milton Merry and Lowell Running. The Odd Fellows could not hold a meeting because at least five people are needed for a quorum.
It was then decided to join with two members in Flandreau. After one passed away recently, Pederson sent a letter out to see what the remaining members wanted to raise dues or close. They voted to end the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Dell Rapids.
Pederson said it had to end because the Odd Fellows was losing members because there were many other issues to deal with in the community.
The lodge in Dell Rapids received its charter from the Grand Lodge of Dakota Territory in 1876. Since then members have made a commitment to help young children, widows and the elderly. They were involved with visual research programs, provided disaster funds and assisted in educational foundations.
Dell Rapids was the site of the state’s only Odd Fellows Home on 10th Street. The Home was dedicated and opened its doors on May 17, 1911. Twenty-four residents, including 19 children and five retired persons, were living in the facility in 1912.
At one time, more than 30 orphans were living in the home. Members would help with schooling. The young girls would take care of the halls and the cooking, while the young boys would be in charge of farming the 100 acres on the site.
After World War II, the facility housed the elderly. Then in the 1960s the Home changed from a retirement facility to a nursing home.
In 2007, Joan Rasmusson purchased the facility and three acres around the home. She hopes to turn the facility into some type of housing residence, but will not start that project until after she has completed restoring the building next to the ‘Grand’ into a kitchen space for the opera house, her office and an upstairs apartment. She is hoping to have that all complete by 2010.
“It (Odd Fellows Home) is such a beautiful setting,” she said. “You can find historic buildings in South Dakota, but very few have a gorgeous setting like that. I think it is nice to preserve the setting around historic buildings.”
The Dells Area Health Center Hospital owns property west of the old facility.
“We are holding that land for new opportunities in health care,” said Dale Gillogly, regional administrator for the Avera Medical Group. “We are not having any discussions at this point.”