Harold James "Jim" Stover

Jim was born on the 10th of September 1943, in Montevideo, Minnesota, to Harold Glenn (Smokey) and Selma (Sally) Andersen. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Tyler, Minnesota where his dad was a lineman for the local rural electrical association. In 1947 the family moved to DeSmet, South Dakota where Jim’s father helped put in electricity throughout rural Kingsbury County. Jim spent his childhood growing up in the “Little Town on the Prairie”

where he gained his foundational values and respect for family, faith, and community. He was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith. He graduated from DeSmet High School in May, 1961in a class of 30. These classmates still have close ties after all these years; some friendships have endured for more than 50 years. In August, 1961, Jim and a high school buddy enlisted in the U.S. Navy and were immediately sent to boot camp in San Diego, California. After boot camp he got orders to Virginia Beach, Virginia where he served on the USS North Hampton and the USS Mullinex. After his discharge from the Navy in 1964, he returned to South Dakota, moving to Huron. After holding several blue collar jobs, he went to a community college and earned a 9 month accounting certificate. He became a “bookkeeper” for a car dealership and the City of Huron.

On August 12, 1967 he married Judy Sedig, the love of his life. They moved from Huron to Pierre where they both worked for the State of South Dakota. Jim started working in the State Library as a bookkeeper. He was the only male in the office and the youngest one, being 74 years younger than the oldest employee. After being a “bookkeeper” for almost 3 years, Jim decided in order to advance in the field he needed more education. Since he had been on the West coast and East coast, he said the only place he hadn’t been was South. He decided on the University of Houston since the job market for Judy would be best there. In August 1968, one year to the day of their marriage, they were on their way to Houston, Texas to begin a new journey.

Over the course of four years of his education, the University helped him financially through scholarships to assist him to obtain his degree. To this day he has always been grateful to the University for the assistance he received. In May of 1972, he graduated summa cum laude with a B.S in Accounting from the Bauer College of Business. He received his CPA certification in March, 1973. He started his career with Haskins & Sells accounting firm as an audit employee. He made manager and decided he wasn’t manager material; he wanted to do the work. He was hired by Houston Contracting Company, a pipeline construction company, in 1978. In August of 1981, he was hired by a family owned company, Gregory and Cook, another pipeline construction company, where he remained until his retirement in 2009. In working with this company he acquired many close friendships, who to this day are still in their lives.

The family wishes to thank all the people who entered Jim and Judy’s life, especially the high school Class of 1961, the Beta Buddies of Beta Sigma Phi, and all the friends he met through his life, especially the Gregory and Cook “family”. The family wants to thank Dani Noldner (Judy’s niece) who has been on this long journey of the disease with us and Robert and Carol Graham who have also been a big support. We also want to thank all the caregivers who assisted him over the last 10 years especially Camilo (Mel) Penaranda, JP Leite, Rosalind Brown, and Jeannie McDaniel as well as the staff of Memorial Hermann Hospice who kept him comfortable during his last days.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Harold and Sally Stover. Survivors include his wife, Judy, his sister, Marilyn Sanders of Houston; nephew, David Mausbach, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, niece Brenda (Mike) Olmsted of Fairfield, California; great nieces Lindsay (Justin) Welsh, Abbigayle Mausbach and Arriana Mausbach.

Friends are cordially invited to gather with the family and share remembrances of Jim from six o’clock until eight o’clock in the evening on Friday, the 13th of July, in the grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Saturday, the 14th of July, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held in the adjacent grand foyer.