Lloyd J Weaver, 78, resident of Rapid City/Black Hawk passed away March 14, 2012 at Rapid City Regional Hospital.
Lloyd was born June 26, 1933 in Long Valley, SD, the third child of Raymond and Mary Katherine (Wood) Weaver.
He attended Long Valley School before moving to Hill City, SD. While in Hill City he excelled in sports and was the quarterback for the high school football team. He was also a drummer for the local Fife & Drum Corp.
He graduated from Hill City High school in 1951 and then served two years in the US Army. After returning back to SD, he took flying lessons and flew a Piper Cub around the Black Hills. Later, after his family was grown, he logged hundreds of hours as copilot on many business and pleasure trips with his children. One summer a beautiful young woman by the name of Sara Johnson visited the Black Hills from Chicago and Lloyd’s life forever changed from that point on. Lloyd and Sara were married in Rapid City on June 2, 1956 on a beautiful 106 degree spring day. To this union were born five children: Lloyd Jr., Larry, Lance, Lee, Lisa
That same year Lloyd started a carpet cleaning business that would eventually grow into a company that would be known first nationally and then internationally. Lloyd was an amazing innovator and inventor. During the flood of 1972, the carpet cleaning business was so inundated with flooded basements; Lloyd decided there had to be a better way to dry out carpeting and building structure to prevent mold growth. Soon after, he developed the internationally recognized method of “on location drying”. Prior to that, wet carpet was just torn out and usually thrown away. Lloyd perfected the technique, wrote the training manuals and began teaching 1000’s of carpet cleaning companies around the US and Canada on the proper way to dry wet carpet and structure. Sara travelled with him to countless cities to support him during this training which totaled over 3000 companies. Today, Lloyd is still recognized as the originator of the “on location drying” technique and it is used worldwide. Later in business Lloyd started developing innovative cleaning equipment and techniques used in the furnace and duct cleaning industry. Today that division has customers and equipment in 52 countries and was voted “exporter of the year” for South Dakota in 2011.
When he was not working he was hunting or fishing. Lloyd hunted in Africa and loved to spend spring and fall at his hunting camp in British Columbia. When he was not working or hunting he would spend as much time as possible during the summer in northern Saskatchewan fishing for anything that would bite. Lloyd filleted so many fish over the years that no one could even come close to his speed or precision.
Lloyd’s life can be summed up by the following quote:
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. “George Bernard Shaw”
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Sara; five children, Lloyd J (Sue) Weaver Jr., Larry R Weaver, Lance S (Cindy) Weaver, Lee A (Jean) Weaver, Lisa A Rose; 12 grandchildren (Sarah, Carrie, Jess, Rachel; Salazsha; Michael, Lucinda, Benjamin; Christy, Jeremy, Joel; Olivia; 3 step grandchildren; 4 great grandchildren; a brother Raymond (Donnie) Weaver, Pasco, WA; and a sister Althea (Jim) Olson, Rapid City, SD; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Lloyd was preceded in death by his parents, Raymond and Mary Katherine.
Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home, 2700 Jackson Blvd.
Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Monday, March 20, at South Canyon Lutheran Church, 700 44th St., with Pastor Bruce Thalacker officiating with lunch following.
Burial will follow at Hill City Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be sent to 2911 West Omaha St.; Rapid City, SD; 57702.
