Funeral service for SGM (Retired) Leo Thaler, 78, Lawton, will be 2:00 p.m. Thursday in the Becker-Rabon Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Vivian Garza, Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church, Barry Guy Bruster of Austin Peay College, Clarksville, Tennessee, and Pastor Gary Thaler, Bristol, Wisconsin officiating. Sergeant Major Thaler died Monday, March 4, in Lawton Burial with full military honors will be in the Cache Cemetery. He was born November 26, 1934 in Wagner, South Dakota, Charles Mix County, to Albert John and Mary Valenta Thaler. He was the youngest of eleven children. Mr. Thaler entered the U.S. Army on February 25, 1955 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of Sergeant Major after 27 years of service with the military on December 31, 1981 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was a member of the Special Forces Green Beret unit for a period of 17 years during his military career. He was a Vietnam veteran and a lifetime member of VFW Post 5263. During his army career he was awarded the following medals: Infantry Badge, Senior Parachutists Badge, Good Conduct Medal 8th Award, Special Forces Jump Wings, Master Parachutists Badge and the Bronze Star Medal. Following his retirement from the Army he completed a four year business administration degree, graduating from Cameron University on May 15, 1987. He worked for the Department of the Army Civil Service eighteen and one half years at Reynolds Army Community Hospital Logistics Division, retiring on June 30, 2001 concluding forty-six years of federal service. He married Arlene Jean Soukup on June 16, 1958 in Wagner, South Dakota and they were divorced on March 31, 1981 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He later married Betty Louise Peters on October 13, 2007 in Lawton, Oklahoma. He is survived by his wife, of the home; his ex-wife, Arlene Thaler, Spring Lake, North Carolina; a son and daughter in law, Michael John and Terry Thaler, Wade-Stedham, North Carolina; a daughter and son in law, Sandra Lee and Kriston Smith, Spring Lake, North Carolina; seven grandchildren, Johnathan Michael, Tiffany and Melissa Thaler, Hannah Smith Rudy and husband Benjamin, Racheal, Caleb and Jared Smith; five great grandchildren, Caitlyn Riley and Logan Michael Thaler, Landon James Sargent, Garion Frances Schroeder and Samual Robert Rudy; two brothers, George Thaler and wife Lorraine, Augusta, Georgia, and Ray Thaler, Wagner, South Dakota; a sister, Dorothy Honomichl, Kimball, South Dakota; a sister in law, Loraine Thaler, Wagner, South Dakota; two stepchildren, Barry Guy Bruster and wife Benita, Carthage, Tennessee, and Barbie Bruster Schreiber and their families; many nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, six brothers, Louis, Edward, Adolph, Lloyd, John and Roy Thaler and one unnamed sister. Memorial contributions may be made to Antioch Baptist Church, 8304 SW New Hope Road, Lawton OK 73505.