Henry Hank Prasnicki

Hank Prasnicki, age 85 of rural Big Stone City died November 12, 2017, at Milbank Area Hospital – Avera Health.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, November 15 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Milbank. Father Gary DeRouchey will officiate and burial will be in St. Charles Cemetery, Big Stone City. Visitation will be on Tuesday at St. Lawrence Catholic Church beginning at 5 p.m. followed by a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue at the church on Wednesday, one hour prior to the Mass.

Urn bearers will be Scott Wiese, Lynette Fries, Derek, Shawn, Reed and Tyler Prasnicki. Honorary urn bearers are grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great, great-grandchild and many square dance friends. Music will be presented by Nancy Johnson, organist; the St. Lawrence Funeral Choir and Kim Folk, vocalist.

Henry (Hank) Prasnicki was born in Gilman WI, May 24, 1932 to Alois and Agnes (Trulik) Prasnicki. He moved to Milbank, SD at the age of 16 to work the harvests. He worked for Barney Van Stralen where he met the love of his life, Dorothy Van Hout who was a sister-in-law to Barney.

The two were married in Ortonville, MN at St John’s Catholic Church on November 10, 1951. Together they worked at Swift & Co Produce. Soon afterward they moved to ND where he worked on a ranch. In 1955, they moved back to work the Van Hout family farm in Big Stone. From there they moved to where they currently reside for the past 55 years.

He had jobs in the quarry, Milbank Hatchery, DeGreef Mobile Homes, drove school bus and helped with Dorothy’s square dance shop. He began full-time dairy farming in 1968.

He had a love for horses and was the proud owner of Champ. It had special meaning, as this horse was a relation to Roy Rogers’s horse. Roy Rogers was an idol of Hanks. His favorite song was Happy Trails.

He enjoyed many family get-togethers, time at the lake, barn dances and making home movies.
They enjoyed 40 years of square dancing with Hank being a caller for 35 of them. They were members of the Old Mill Twirlers and he was a President of the SD Callers Association for 2 years.

After a long battle with cancer and a heart attack, he passed away November 12, 2017 at the Milbank Area Hospital, with his loving wife of 66 years by his side.

He survived by his devoted wife Dorothy of rural Big Stone City. His 5 children and their spouses, Rick (Jill) Prasnicki, Matthews, NC, Sheryl (Roger) Wiese of Greenleaf, WI, DeWayne (Mary) Prasnicki, Sartell, MN, Rod (Lori) Prasnicki and Randy (Jackie) Prasnicki both of Big Stone City. 23 Grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and 1 great, great-granddaughter. A brother Phillip, sisters-in-law Loretta Prasnicki of Gilman, WI and Diane (Vince) Kvidera of Ortonville, MN, many nieces and nephews and many square dance friends.

He was proceded in death by his parents, 4 brothers, 7 sisters, his mother and father-in-law, 4 sisters-in-law and a brother-in-law and a granddaughter Cheyenne Prasnicki.