James Dean Wieting

James "Jim" Dean Wieting, formerly of Tripp, SD died December 1, 2022 in Albuquerque, NM at the age of 76.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, May 26, 2023 at Goglin Memorial Chapel in Tripp, followed by graveside military rites in Grace Hill Cemetery.

James (Jim) Dean Wieting was born in Parkston, SD on July 3, 1946 to Walter Wieting and Ann Wieting (Getz). James spent his formative years living in Delmont, South Dakota, spending time at his dad’s Chevrolet Dealership where his love of cars started, hunting pheasants and fishing. James was a three-sport athlete at Delmont High School, graduating in 1964. He would meet Diane Brunken in the halls of that high school and would be married just after his enlistment in the Air Force in July of 1969. 

The Air Force took them between California and New Mexico, and after his final enlistment, they settled in Maple Grove, Minnesota where they started a family. Joseph (Joe) was born in 1977 and Dena would follow in 1980. Jim enjoyed his time in Maple Grove, working and raising his family. A small ad in a mechanics magazine and a -30° Minnesota morning found him thinking that there had to be a better place. After accepting a job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1983, he would spend the next 10 years working and ferrying his kids to various activities until a move to Albuquerque in 1993. 

Jim and Diane would become empty nesters, moving once again to Los Alamos, both becoming employed again with the Laboratory. While Diane worked in one of the top-secret areas of the Lab, Jim traveled extensively for his job, spending a lot of time in Russia, Kazakhstan and Greece. After retirement, Jim and Diane moved to Black Hawk, South Dakota and then onto Eureka, California, to be near the grandkids. After losing Diane to cancer in 2014, Jim kept himself busy with his Corvette and house projects, until the rain and fog of Eureka got the best of him and moved again to Albuquerque, NM, this time to be near the other set of grandkids. 

Jim was preceded in death by his wife, Diane Joy Wieting (Brunken); parents, Walter and Ann Wieting (Getz), and sister, Kathleen Fink (Wieting). 

Jim is survived by his son, Joe Wieting of Albuquerque, NM, wife Leah and grandchildren, Anthony, Hartley, Hollis and Sawyer and daughter, Dena Powers (Wieting) of McKinleyville, CA, husband Shawn and grandchildren, Ayden, Elliot and Oliver.