Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Lars Herseth
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sunset on Sunday, October 4, 2026, in honor of former state legislator R. Lars Herseth. He served in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1975 until 1986 and the South Dakota Senate from 1989 until 1996.
A memorial service will be held at 2 pm CT on Sunday, October 4, 2026, at the Johnson Fine Arts Center, Northern State University, 12th Ave. SE, Aberdeen, SD.
###
A fine man and statesman who had South Dakota’s best interests at heart. Glad I had the opportunity to know him both in and outside of politics. May he rest in peace.
Lars cared about South Dakota. I had the opportunity to be there as a GOP intern, and then later serve with Lars in the Senate. We all have Lars stories. He was a worthy opponent, and always fair to work with and against. Couple of stories.
When Janklow proposed buying the old Milwaukee Road, Don Frankenfeld led all but one West River GOP in opposing it. Lars delivered every Dem vote, because he knew – as we all do and see now – the importance of rail service in our Ag state. But most people don’t remember that Janklow wanted to buy the rolling stock too, and have the state run the railroad! Lars caboshed that, didn’t want the state in that business (a conservative perspective) and Bill relented. Today, from their vision and deal we have the BN.
One time in ‘95 Sen Kloucek came up to the senate floor from seeing Gov Janklow and was all distraught. He said to a group of us: “He told me that if I didn’t get out of his office, he would throw me through the door!” Lars’s response in the most dead-panned Larsism: “You probably had it coming”😎. And we all just smiled and nodded in agreement with the Minority Leader.
RIP good friend and servant
I was the Republican Attorney General when Democrat Lars took over as Senate Majority Leader. I found him very reasonable and fair. His word was good. We partnered up and put through some good bills those two years. I liked the guy.