Tim Assman, 38

Tim Assman, 38, of Mission, SD, passed away on Friday, December 16, 2022. A funeral service will be held on Friday, December 30, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Valentine. A private family burial will occur at a later date. A visitation will be held on Thursday, December 29, 2022, at the Valentine Methodist Church from 5:00-7:00 p.m., with a prayer service beginning at 5:30 p.m. Holmes Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.

Timothy Joseph Assman was born on September 21, 1984, to Dave and Diana (Vargas) Assman, in Valentine. Tim was the first of four children. He was raised on the family ranch west of Mission, SD. He attended Carter Christian School and graduated from White River High School in 2003. Mitchell Tech is where he went for an Associates in Telecommunications.

Men like Tim are few and far between. They come along once in a lifetime. Tim knew no bounds when it came to the potential of living and was a rolling stone in his early days. He rode the bulls and horses that bucked, scaled the heights of the telephone towers, drilled oil from the Bakken of North Dakota to the basins of Texas, the western plains of Wyoming to the coastal territory of Pennsylvania; he herded the buffalo, and worked the land and cattle. He kept an Oklahoma jail cell warm on a May evening and left a front tooth on the streets of Georgia. There were no limits to the stories he could recount. He brought life to every room he entered with his contagious laugh and distinct humor.

A suggestion from his mother caused him to chance upon a silversmithing class where he discovered his natural artistic talent. Tim wrote that he fell in love with “the romance of creating something with a stone, silver, and my imagination; a way to express my unique personality.” He was inspired by seeing something he made bring happiness to a person, and his passion was evident in each piece he crafted. Hard Country Customs was a young business that was quick to succeed. However, Tim’s greatest accomplishment came along on June 1, 2007 - he named her Kennedie Renae. Tim’s friends were his family. Those who had the pleasure of meeting him - never forgot him. Those who had the privilege of knowing him - loved him. He was the definition of “a one-of-a-kind.”

Tim was lost to a tragic accident on December 16, 2022. He is survived by his daughter, Kennedie Assman; his parents, Dave and Diana Assman; his sister Therese (Jayd) Knodell (Wakely, Wynn, Morgan); sister Toni Assman (Kahler, Kiercen, Krue); brother Tayler (Paige) Assman (Sterling, Bohdy, Jehtt, Steelie, Roanie); and his grandmother, Jeane Vargas.

Tim was preceded in death by his grandfathers, Joe Assman and Tony Vargas, grandmother Esther Assman, uncle Ed Assman, aunt Toni ‘Bo’ Vargas-Hutchinson, and brother-in-law, Will Sargent.