God, Family, Country.

Martin Arthur Fallgren, 59, Sturgis, died Monday, November 20, 2006, at the Sturgis Regional Health Care Center.

Vigil services will be 7 p.m. Thursday at the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Sturgis. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Friday, November 24, 2006, at the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Sturgis with Bishop Donald Kettler officiating. Burial with military honors follows at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis.

A memorial has been established to the Hospice Unit of the Fort Meade Veterans Hospital.

Martin was born August 16, 1947, at Minneapolis, MN, to Harold and Lillian Fallgren. He was the oldest of eight children and was raised on the North Shore of Lake Superior. He graduated from Silver Bay High School in 1965 and went to college at St. Cloud State, where he participated in football and swimming before entering the United States Marine Corps. After his commissioning as an officer, Martin served two tours in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart. He married Elizabeth Kettler in Sioux Falls on May 31, 1971. Martin worked at VA Hospital in San Francisco, CA, Minneapolis, MN, St. Cloud, MN, Poplar Bluff, MO, and Fort Meade, SD, from 1984 until his retirement in June of 2006. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Lt. Colonel in 1993. Martin was an active member of the St. Francis of Assisi Parish, the Knights of Columbus and he served on the board of Catholic Social Services for seven years. He was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Survivors include his wife Elizabeth Fallgren, Sturgis; daughter, Kristin Maag and her husband Pat, Scottsbluff, NE; son, Fr. Matthew Fallgren, Rapid City, SD, son Peter Fallgren and his wife Vicki, Toledo, OH; daughter, Suzanne Reeve and her husband Capt. Jeremy Reeve, USAF, Sturgis, SD; son, A.J. Fallgren, Sturgis, SD; his parents, Harold and Lillian Fallgren, Silver Bay, MN; sister Betty Rohlfing and her husband Bob, Brainerd, MN, brother, Ron Fallgren, Silver Bay, MN, brother Richard Fallgren and his wife Byong, Glenrock, WY, brother, Craig Fallgren and his wife Kitty, Hazen, ND, sister, Roberta Cosner and her husband Richard, Brainerd, MN, sister, Loretta Fallgren, Robbinsdale, MN, brother, Roger Fallgren and his wife Julie, Aikin, MN; 12 grandchildren, Jennifer Maag, Jonathon Maag, James Maag, Collin Maag, Joseph Maag, Nicholas Maag, Isabelle Maag, Casey Wurth, Joshua Fallgren, Marguerite Reeve, Nathaniel Reeve, Gabriel Reeve; and a special God-son, Eric Rohlfing.