John Earle Soderquist, a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend passed away while he slept on July 29, 2014. He was born May 31, 1948, to Rudy and Grace Soderquist in Rapid City, SD. At a young age, he grew a passion for radio, being captivated watching Vern Shepherd broadcast Rapid City Cobbler basketball games while his father coached the team. He started his own radio show in his parents’ basement, and was caught having his transmitter hooked up to a barbwire fence to increase the range. He began working in radio at age 14, and became a disc jockey under the name Johnny Earle. He went on to study broadcasting at the University of South Dakota, and was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ, joining their radio ministry staff after graduation. He married his wife, Gloria, in 1977, and had three sons over the next decade. He worked for various radio stations in the Black Hills doing a variety of interviews and news segments including a program called “Opinion Please” for KOTA. In addition it his radio work, John picked up occasional television experience.He was creative and talented, as seen in his many hobbies and jobs such as photography, slide shows, graphic design, award-winning advertising, and much more. He worked in public relations for the Rapid City Regional Hospital when it first opened and later at Sioux Valley Hospital. He started an inspection business which offered the opportunity to travel all across the country with his wife, even working and surfing in Hawaii. In 1999, he envisioned and produced a reunion of Hoedown Jamboree, a former Black Hills area country-western radio show that he loved. He used his “dream big” personality to gather the show’s members to play a live-audience recreation at the former Rapid City High School auditorium.He lived in Jeffersonville, Indiana over the past year, spending time with family and friends there. He had just days ago returned to the Black Hills where his heart belonged. He had a passion for music, a self-taught violinist who loved to play at church. He loved the Black Hills and his Soderquist-Lewis family heritage tied to the area. He loved going to the lake and surfing, playing with his grandchildren, cooking meals for both family and friends, and had a knack for making all he knew smile. He was always planning the next big get-together and he is most certainly making plans right now for that next big event.He is survived by his wife, Gloria, sons Stephen, David, and Philip, four grandchildren with one on the way, his sister Diana Sims and brother Craig Soderquist.