Max G. Dreier

Max G. Dreier, age 94 of Sioux Falls, SD passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, SD. Visitation will be held Friday, December 20, 2024 from 10:00 am – 12:00 noon at Crosser & Priesman Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 301 N. Locust St. Oak Harbor, OH followed by interment at the Elliston Cemetery, Elliston, OH. In lieu of flowers, consider donations to the South Dakota Knights of Columbus Foundation, Inc.

Max G. Dreier was born July 24, 1930, to William and Hilda (Wolf) Dreier in rural Oak Harbor, Ohio. Max spent his childhood on his parent’s farm in rural Oak Harbor, and at age six began attending Rocky Ridge Elementary School. (There rarely was a kindergarten in those years, at least in rural areas.) He graduated from Salem – Oak Harbor High School third in his class in 1948. Max served four years in the Ohio National Guard, enlisting in 1947 when he was a senior in high school.

Max spent the first two years of his adulthood as a farmer. He farmed his father’s and mother’s farm where he grew up, as well as his Uncle Frank’s and Aunt Martha Dreier’s farm, located about one mile north of the home place. After two years, it became obvious that he could not make a living and support a family on the number of acres he farmed. So, he enrolled in Bowling Green State University and received a teaching credential in 1952. In those days, elementary teachers could get certified with less than a college degree.

In the meantime, he had married Evelyn Hermes in Bowling Green, Ohio, in November 1951, with Fr. F.J. Nietfeld officiating. Father Nietfeld had earlier instructed Max in the Catholic faith and received him into the Catholic Church in Bowling Green, as he was the assistant pastor at St. Aloysius parish and chaplain to students at Bowling Green State University.

Max began his teaching career in Oak Harbor in the fourth-grade classroom, which was then located on the second floor of the “old” building, which, at the time, housed 1-12. He taught there eight years and moved into the newly constructed R.C. Walters Elementary School in 1961.

In 1961 he and his wife, Evelyn (Hermes), and their two children, Gerald and Nancy, moved to Anchorage, Alaska. He taught at Nunaka Valley School. At various times during his seven years of teaching there, he taught fourth, fifth, or sixth grades and coached hockey.

In 1968 Max took employment with the Alaska Education Association in its newly opened Anchorage Reginal Office. He worked for them for two years, after which he and his family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he took a position as executive director of the newly formed Nebraska Professional Practices Commission, a part of the Nebraska Department of Education.

While in the Department of Education many of Max’s colleagues either had or were working towards doctorates in education. However, Max decided in 1977 to get an advanced law degree, since his work with the Professional Practices Commission was law-related. So, he left his position with the Department of Education and enrolled in the College of Law at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, In 1979 he graduated with honors, and entered the private practice of law in 1980 in Norfolk, Nebraska, with Dan Jewell as his senior partner and head of the firm.

As a beginning lawyer Max took nearly every case that came along. Gradually as the years went by, he gravitated towards education law and real estate law. If it is possible to specialize in a relatively small town such as Norfolk, Nebraska, then these two areas became his specialties.

His wife, Evelyn, died in September 2000. In December 2001, he married Carol Ballard, at St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Tucson, Arizona, where Max and his late wife had been spending their winters. Carol’s husband, Earl Ballard, had also died earlier in the year 2000. Carol and Max enjoyed 23 years together until Max’s death in December 2024.

Max is survived by his wife, Carol Dreier of Sioux Falls, SD; his son, Gerald (Elizabeth) Dreier of Poland, Ohio; his son-in-law, Michael Zwiebel; grandchildren, Andrea Dreier, Alissa Padovano (Michael), Jane Mary Dreier, Jennifer (Joseph) Dagg, Adam Zweibel, and Brenden Zweibel; his sister, Alice Bowersox, of Elliston, Ohio; his brother, Wayne Dreier of Columbus, Ohio; stepchildren, Joyce Saabye (Peter), Kevin Ballard (Cheryl), Kenneth Ballard (Janet), and Jeff Ballard (Kay); and numerous great-grandchildren; step-grandchildren; and step-great-grandchildren.

Max was preceded in death by his parents, William and Hilda Dreier; and his daughter, Nancy Zwiebel.