Jerome Oakley Austin, 84, of White Owl, SD, died on November 28, 2022, at the Good Samaritan Home in New Underwood, SD.

Jerome was born on September 1, 1938, to Beatrice (Brown) and Earl Carpenter Austin at Mankato, MN. He attended grades 1-5 at the Teachers College School in Mankato, MN. He then moved to Wall, SD, with his mother and attended 6 ^th grade at Wall school. He loved coming out to the ranch and being with his grandparents in the summer and working side by side with his grandpa, Joe Brown. When his mother and him moved to the ranch at White Owl, SD, he attended 7 ^th and 8 ^th grades at Metigoshe Country School, where his mother, Beatrice was his teacher. Jerome attended high school at Sturgis Brown High School his freshman, sophomore, and junior year. He had to quit school to come back to the ranch, when his grandfather passed away to take care of all the things that had to be done. He finished his high school GED by home courses. He loved being on the ranch that his grandparents homesteaded in 1907, which is still the family ranch to this day.

Jerome married his wife, Patricia Ann Collins on September 23, 1962, at Newell, SD. Together they lived and worked on the White Owl Ranch milking cows, and selling cream then to the Sturgis Cheese Factory when it opened. They also raised chickens and sold eggs at the Sturgis Chicken Hatchery, all while raising their four children. He was a member of the White Owl Baptist Church and was baptized along with his wife Patty. Jerome was a simple soft-spoken man that enjoyed the simple things in life, never to draw attention to himself. He loved raising his cattle herd, baby calves in the spring time, fresh cut hay and growing crops in the summer. All of Gods many blessings where a great joy to him. Growing up he had no siblings or close cousins, so neighbors and friends were like family to him. His children and all of his grandchildren were his pride and joy. We always thought that he should have been a history professor at a college somewhere. You could always find him reading until his glaucoma got to where he could not see good anymore. He was a history book and told many stories of long ago that his children and grandchildren will always cherish. In 2015, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease which kept him from doing the things he dearly loved on the ranch until his passing.

Grateful for have sharing his life are his wife of 60 years, Patricia "Patty" Austin; sons, Bryan Austin, Big Stone, SD, Bradley (Missy) Austin, White Owl, SD; and a daughter, Sunshine (Quentin) Gerbracht, Maurine, SD; 10 grandchildren: Derek (Jane) Austin, Spearfish, SD, Aaron Austin, stationed in Persian Gulf, Zachery Austin, Phoenix, AZ, Zane Austin, Rapid City, SD, Channing (Kristen) Austin, White Owl, SD, Morgan Austin (Eric), Rapid City, SD, Beau Austin, White Owl, SD, Kayla (Cameron) Koch, Owanka, SD, Dalton (Cathy) Gerbracht, Sioux Falls, SD, and  Daniel Gerbracht, Maurine, SD; 8 great-grandchildren, Mariah, Shaniah, and Alanah Spring, Kinsley, and Natalie Austin, Paisley, Case, and Kopper Koch; brothers-in-law,  Ronnie (Wendy) Collins, Whitewood, SD, Milton (Faye) Collins, Newell, SD; sister-in-law, Georgia Collins, Spearfish, SD; and many nieces and nephews.

Jerome was preceded in death by his parents, Beatrice and Earl Austin, grandparents, Joe and Maggie Brown, son, Barry Joe Austin, granddaughter, Sarah Marie Austin Spring, his mother and father-in-law, Ruth and Lloyd Collins, sister-in-law, Nedra "Dory" Ingersoll, brother-in-law, Everett Ingersoll, brother-in-law, Eugene Collins.

Memorial services will be 10:00 a.m. on December 30, 2022, at Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis, SD. Inurnment will be at a later date at Bear Butte Cemetery.

Click on the link to view service folder