Stanley William Knode
Stanley William Knode, age 72, died on Monday, September 28, 2026 at his home in Sioux Falls, SD. His funeral service will be 1:00 PM on Monday, October 5, 2026 at Zion Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls. Stan’s family will be present to greet friends for visitation on Sunday, October 4, 2026 at George Boom Funeral Home & On-Site Crematory in Sioux Falls from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
Stan was born on August 16, 1954, in Estherville Iowa, to John and Katherine (Davis) Knode, the 4th of five children. He grew up in Estherville and attended public school, graduating from Estherville High School in 1972. While in high school, he won a trip to Washington DC in an essay contest, an experience of a lifetime for a small-town Iowa boy which he talked about for years afterwards. In 1974, Stan married his high school sweetheart, Shirley Barnett. They made their home in Estherville until unfortunately the marriage ended. Stan moved to Sioux Falls in 1985 where he met the love of his life, Alvina Kuechenmeister, at a singles club gathering. They married on June 6, 1987 and were together a total of 40 years. They were each other's best friends.
Stan had a varied employment history. In Estherville he worked alongside his brother at Hammond Oil as a mechanic, telling Alvina that he was their "tire man." Later, he worked in maintenance at Iowa Lakes Community College. That experience led to being hired by White Glove Maintenance to manage the crew that cleaned the Citibank campus in Sioux Falls. At the same time, he attended Nettleton College, pursuing studies in business management. In 1989 he put that business knowledge to use when he and Alvina opened the first of three stores called S & A Convenience. After they closed those stores in 1997, he worked for the South Dakota State Penitentiary as a corrections officer until he retired in 2021. Alvina believes that of all of his jobs, the one at SDSP gave him the most pride and sense of fulfillment, as challenging as it could be at times.
Stan had a lot of "nerdy" pastimes, primarily gaming. He was a member of the Chess Club in high school. He took board games to their highest levels, wheeling and dealing with Monopoly money and developing complicated strategies with the "armies" of Risk. For a couple of years, he was part of a group of friends who met every week to play Dungeons and Dragons. When internet games came into existence, he "flew" spaceships in Star Trek Online, Eve Online, and Star Citizen, and later entered the fantasy world of Black Desert Online. His BDO friends lived all over the USA and even one in the U.K. In 2024 he and Alvina drove down to the Knoxville Tennessee area where all of his BDO friends had gathered to meet each other in person. It was a long and arduous trip for a couple of "old folks" through all the road construction and heavy traffic, including being on the outer edge of Hurricane Helene, but the memories made were priceless and cherished.
Stan and Alvina shared a love of anything Star Trek. On their first trip to Las Vegas, they discovered the "Star Trek Experience" at the Las Vegas Hilton, a museum of sorts for all the Star Trek props, costumes, memorabilia, as well as a "future timeline" of the story of the Star Trek world. They loved it so much that a couple of years later they returned to take it all in again. If it had not shut down, they might have gone back a third time. Instead, they opted for a day trip once to the Twin Cities with their "Trekkie" friend Jon to see the Star Trek traveling exhibit at the Mall of America. At the time of his passing, Stan and Alvina were re-watching all the old Star Trek shows and movies on Paramount.
Stan was a huge dog lover. When Stan and Alvina started dating, he told her about his dog Bozo that he had owned back in Estherville and how he had built a large and complicated dog house for him that he had to call for help to move from his basement to outside. He rigged up a heat lamp inside it to help keep Bozo warm in the elements, and he always knew that Bozo was "home" when he looked out the window because the light would be on. Stan and Alvina did not have children of their own but they doted on their two canine "kids", a Doberman named Shadow and a white German Shepherd named Kato.
Stan loved action movies and was fond of saying he "taught" Alvina about the James Bond and Terminator franchises. Another of his passions was grilling, which he did every weekend when weather allowed, introducing Alvina to foods that she had never thought about grilling, like chicken and brats. While living in Estherville, Stan earned a black belt in Shotokan karate and taught classes. And he would want everyone to know that Shotokan from Japan is a style of its own, and not the same as Taekwondo or Jujitsu or other "lesser" forms of martial arts. Stan's sense of humor was quirky and somewhat subtle. Not a day went by that he didn't make Alvina laugh. He was conservative in his politics and never shied away from debating his viewpoint when challenged. And he absolutely loved lemon meringue pie, especially his mom's. Alvina likes to think that his mother met him at the gates with one in her hands.
Grateful for having shared his life are his wife, Alvina Knode, Sioux Falls, SD; his siblings, Kathy Anderson, Indianapolis, IN, Claudia Dale, Helena, MT, and Laura Johnson, Des Moines, IA; sister-in-law, Joleen Knode, Estherville, IA; Alvina’s sisters, Debra Tangeman and Gail (Kevin) Boever of Sioux Falls, SD; along with many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents, John W. and Katherine Knode; brother, Johnnie Knode; parents-in-law Orville and Charlotte Kuechenmeister, and two brothers-in-law, Roger Anderson and Kenny Tangeman.