LeRoy "Rabbit" William Dempsey

Graveside Service for LeRoy "Rabbit" William Dempsey will be held on July 16, 2022 at 11:00 A.M. at St Peter's Catholic Cemetery, Sisseton, South Dakota.  There will be a Celebration of Life Reception at the Valley View Golf Club following the burial. All friends and family are invited. The Cahill Funeral Chapel, Sisseton, SD is in charge of funeral arrangements.

LeRoy Dempsey left this world unexpectedly at age 74 on May 11, 2022. He died of natural causes at his home in Minneapolis, MN,

He was born in Sisseton, SD on April 10, 1948 to Norval "Bill" and Alice (Rolstad) Dempsey. He attended St. Peter's Catholic Grade School, graduated from Sisseton High School in 1966 and attended General Beadle State College in Madison, SD.

He then moved to Minneapolis with his older brother, Larry, where they each became outstanding machinists, setting up and operating the machines which manufactured auto parts and tools of all kinds for well-known car companies and tool brands. They both excelled at math, which enabled them to make the calculations and work with the precision necessary to manufacture the products that met  their clients' exacting specifications. They were machinists for their entire careers, and LeRoy retired in 2013 at 65 years old.

During high school, LeRoy played on the varsity football and basketball teams, and excelled at table pool and billiards, and was well-known for his prowess at both. He was a regular at the D&D Recreation Center in Sisseton, where he became affectionately known as "Rabbit" because of the way he twitched his nose to keep his eyeglasses from sliding down when leaning over the pool table to line up a shot. LeRoy was forever after known as "Rabbit", and his friends gifted him with rabbits of all kinds...statuaries, curios, stuffed animals and an array of miscellaneous toys and trinkets throughout his life.

After moving to Minneapolis, he became quite a good golf player and a standout bowler, known for his high scores and competitive tournament play. He accumulated more local and regional golf and bowling tournament trophies than he had places to put them.

While growing up in Sisseton, Rabbit learned how to fish and hunt with his dad and Larry. As an adult, he became serious about outdoor sports and recreation and was devoted to them for the rest of his life.  He loved them with Larry and many like-minded friends, usually on Northern Minnesota lakes, and in  forests and fields near the home of his special friends, Dave and Sharon Lien, but also in South Dakota, Colorado and Montana.  For the past forty years, he rarely missed a weekend enjoying whichever outdoor sport was in season.  Over the years he assembled impressive and treasured collections of sports guns and fishing gear.

Rabbit was a quiet, mild-mannered, humble, frugal, somewhat bashful and happy person. Always friendly, jovial and kind, he was always comfortable and fun to be around. He chose to be and enjoyed being a bachelor, and was very self sufficient as such.  He enjoyed tending to his vegetable garden and reading, watching movies and videos and listening to CDs and audiotapes of which he had amassed impressive collections. He also enjoyed visiting casinos on his way to or back from his weekend Northern Minnesota sporting activities.

He was very close to his sister Lois, and they had frequent and long telephone conversations, and to his older brother Larry, who was his best friend and constant hunting and fishing companion for decades before he passed away in 2017.

LeRoy is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Lois and Steve Bergerson, his sister-in-law, Judy Dempsey and nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Thomas and Julia Dempsey, Edward and Bridget Rolstad, parents Norval "Bill" and Alice (Rolstad) Dempsey, infant brother Thomas and older brother Larry, and nephew Scott Dempsey.