Arthur Otto Winckler

Arthur Winckler, 95, died Monday, November 24, 2025 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton.

Visitation will be held 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., with a 3:30 p.m. funeral, Wednesday, November 26, at Goglin Funeral Home in Yankton. Burial, with military rites, will be 3:45 p.m. at Garden of Memories in Yankton.

Arthur Otto Winckler was born on December 13, 1929, to Otto and Emma (Hahn) Winckler in Tyndall, South Dakota. He grew up on the family farm north of Tyndall. In 1952, he was drafted into the United States Army and served for eighteen months in Germany, where he worked in transportation.

After returning home, he attended Southern State Teachers College in Springfield, SD, studying auto mechanics and carpentry on the GI bill. In 1955, Arthur married Darlene Mae Holman, and the couple moved to Yankton, SD. She taught in the local school system, and Arthur worked in construction for a year in the SD and Nebraska region. In 1965 their son Mark was born. Arthur later began hauling mail for Fundum Transportation and eventually spent twenty years with Vanderhule Moving and Storage.

Through the late 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Arthur remodeled several homes in Yankton and converted them into rental properties. In 1979, he bought his own semi-truck and began hauling grain for local elevators and farmers in the Yankton and Tyndall areas. Arthur and his son Mark worked together until Arthur retired at the age of 77.

After retirement, he enjoyed caring for his rental properties and the acreage farm where Mark and his wife Debra live today. He especially loved tending to the dogs and cats on the farm and making trips downtown for afternoon coffee.

Arthur is survived by his son Mark, daughter-in-law Debra, two grandchildren Alisa Mae (Justin) Miller, Odessa Kay Groves, nine great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Otto and Emma Winckler; siblings Edna (Albert) Rokusek, Alvin (Francis) Winckler, Melvin (Jane) Winckler, Agnes (Bernard) Pletka, Hilda (Robert) Tycz, and a sibling in infancy.