Garey Allen Rice 85 of Rapid City passed away Saturday, March 1, 2025 in Rapid City.

A celebration of Garey's life will be held at a later date. Online condolences can be left at www.osheimschmidt.com

Garey was born June 14, 1939 near Mt Ayr, Iowa to Laurence J. and Dency L. (Young) Rice, the youngest of 10 children. He married Mary Ellen Zellmer on June 17, 1962 at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Moville, Iowa. Together they moved to Oregon where he got his Bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon and then off to San Fransico where he found his love for tax accounting getting a Masters degree in Tax from Golden Gate University. They had 2 boys, Michael and Brett, both born in California. From there the small family moved to Des Moines, Iowa to be near his mother during her failing health and then on to Wheaton, Illinois, until finally settling down for an extended stay in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Garey served in the Army for three years, mostly in Germany. After marriage he went on to work for the Internal Revenue Service for thirty-five years. Upon retirement, he volunteered with the Pennington County Sheriff's office for another 10 years. He believed in community, serving on the Board of Directors for Highmark Credit Union.

He was passionate about travel and explored the world with Mary Ellen. They got their start on long road trips, by packing up the boys in the family station wagon, and driving from South Dakota to all points across the country, be it Oregon or New Orleans as long as there was cooler filled with ham sandwiches and Shasta soda.  After retirement they upgraded to international locales, going from Iceland to the Caribbean and from Alaska to New Zealand.  Cruising was his preferred form of adventure.

Surviving him are his wife Mary Ellen Rice of Rapid City, sons Brett Rice of Seattle Washington, Michael Rice of Rockford, Illinois who has two daughters, Sophia and Rowyn in Minnesota. His sister Neola "Tini" Lakowske lives in Salem Oregon.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and 8 brothers and sisters. Raymond "Pat" Rice, Russel Rice, Clinton "Whitey" Rice, Robert "Bob" Rice. Eleanor Zinader, Patricia "Pat" King, Phyllis Gray, and Louella Wyss.