Merle Strom, 73, of Elk Point, South Dakota, passed away on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at a local hospital.

Merle James Strom was born on June 6, 1952, to Lyle and Judith (Johnson) Strom in Bloomfield, Nebraska. He grew up on the family farm east of Bloomfield, where he attended rural grade school and later graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1970. One of nine children in a large and lively …