Ryan “Chub” Eitreim, 52
Ryan “Chub” Eitreim, 52, of Polk City, Iowa, formerly of Garretson, passed away on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at MercyOne Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. His memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at George Boom Funeral Home & On-Site Crematory in Sioux Falls. Visitation with the family present will be held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Burial will take place at Summit Hill Cemetery in Garretson at a later date.
Ryan G. Eitreim was born on Jan. 24, 1974, to Gordy and JoAnn Eitreim Keyser. Ryan grew up in Sherman, S.D., for the first nine years of life and then moved to Garretson with his parents and brother. He attended all of his years of schooling at Garretson.
While at school, his first love was football, where he played on the varsity team starting in the eighth grade. Upon starting his high school years, he played fullback on offense and nose guard on defense. Ryan was on the runner-up team in 1989 and then back-to-back championship teams in 1990 and 1991. People would always say that Ryan was “a mean machine”, though he never took all the credit because the kids would always play as a team, like well-oiled machines.
Ryan played Teener baseball for the Garretson Blue Jays. This group were classmates and high school buddies, where they played for several years together and won third place at State on the hottest day of the year! Ryan started his athletic accomplishments at an early age, when he was just a little guy out on the mat with red sweatpants and a striped muscle shirt – looking just like a kid straight out of the Woodstock era! He took to wrestling, where it came very easy for him. He won seven straight AAU championships and many more out of the state. He would pick the other kids up under their armpits and toss them in the air like they were doing a cartwheel, and it was over in seconds; he was very fun to watch! A good friend of Ryan’s told a story that said “the best moment he had in high school was when he and his brother were both State wrestling champions the same year!” He told that story more than once!
Ryan graduated in May of 1993 and in August of the same year, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He received a metal for Southwest Asia Service, National Defense Service, and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. He served at the Incirlik Air Force base in Turkey. He helped with improving the life for all multinational residing in a tent city, by pouring over 800 cubic meters of concrete for sidewalk and tent pads. He was also at Kwang Ju Air Base, Republic of Korea, for the rebuilding of a Disaster Control Center. He was a Structural Apprentice with the 18th Civil Engineer Squadron. He served four years with the Air Force.
After his discharge from the Air Force, he went to work for the elevator industry in Sioux Falls, where he started with Mongomery Elevator in Sioux Falls and then moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked for Kone and Schumacher Elevator.
Ryan is survived by his mother, JoAnn; brother, Jammy Eitreim (Shannon) and nephew, Brock and niece, Brynn; step-siblings, Emmett Keyser (Karen) and family, Tim Keyser (Sharla) and family, Guy Graff (Tonya) and family, and Shane Spears (Shawn Quintan) and family. He is also survived by his cousins, Nate and Katie Scheuer and Kim Heilman, with whom he had a special relationship with.
Ryan was preceded in death by his father, Gordon Eitreim; grandparents, Harvey and Martha Koch and Lloyd Eitreim and Henrietta Brebner.
For online condolences, visit georgeboom.com.
