Officers & Board of Directors
President
Diane Diekman, who grew up on a South Dakota farm, is a retired U.S. Navy captain and a published author. During her 32 years on active duty, she traveled around the world as an aircraft maintenance officer. Twice named All-American Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 628, she currently serves on the funeral honor guards for the American Legion and VFW posts in Sioux Falls. She is president of the Battleship South Dakota Memorial and the biographer of Faron Young, Marty Robbins, and Randy Travis. pr*******@**************ak.org
Vice-President
Patrick Branco was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and joined the U.S. Coast Guard as an independent duty hospital corpsman. After serving four years in Kodiak, Alaska, and New London, Connecticut, he transferred to the U.S. Navy as an HM2 and was assigned to USS Kansas City (AOR-3) out of Alameda. Advanced to chief petty officer in 1984, he was commissioned a few months later as a Medical Service Corps Officer. His duty stations included Coast Guard bases, Navy bases, two Army posts, and a Marine Corps base. He retired after 21 years, at the rank of lieutenant, and went on to a career in hospital administration. For the next 25 years, he served as a hospital CEO in several hospitals across the country.
Secretary
Sharon Taplett-Lundgren was born in Sioux Falls and is a wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She served four years in the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman/Operating Room Technician and fourteen years in the U.S. Army Reserve. She then received a direct commission as a Medical Service Corps officer in the Army Reserve, reached the rank of Captain, and got out of the military at 18 years. She retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs with 34 years of federal service; her final job was inspecting VA hospitals for Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety & Health and Joint Commission violations in five states. She is past historian of American Legion Post 15 and a member of the Post 15 and Veterans of Foreign Wars funeral honor guards.
Treasurer
Jim McQuisten was born in Rapid City and grew up in Sioux Falls. While in the U.S. Army, he attained the rank of Specialist E-5 in the Finance Corps while serving in Viet Nam in charge of pay conversion for service members as they entered and left country. Most of Jim’s adult life has been spent working in accounting as bookkeeper and office manager with various businesses, large and small. He is a life member of Viet Nam Veterans of America, the DAV, the VFW, and an active member of the American Legion. A past Finance Officer of American Legion Post 15 and currently serving as Quartermaster for VFW Post 628, he is also a proud member of the Honor Guard for both the Legion and VFW. Do*******@**************ak.org
Director
Barry Andres was born and raised in southwest Minnesota. During a four-year enlistment in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Louisiana and Texas, he attained the rate of Radioman Second Class Petty Officer. He retired from a multi-national food company in Minnesota after 35 years in its IT department, where he started as a computer programmer and later managed the computer centers and network team. He was a member of a paid volunteer fire department for 18 years and EMT for several years. He moved to Sioux Falls in 2021 and is active in American Legion Post 15 as adjutant and funeral honor guard member. He regularly participates with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary out of Duluth, Minnesota.
Director
Robert Garrigan served aboard aircraft carriers USS Ranger and USS Kitty Hawk as a maintenance officer in an airborne early warning squadron. He deployed on USS Tripoli with a helicopter squadron. In the Navy Reserve he was attached to units that supported Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Naval Forces Europe headquarters in London, and Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. His civilian careers have been in Accounting and Auditing. He was an auditor for Wells Fargo Audit Services and the Business Manager of the South Dakota Board of Nursing in the Department of Health. He is retired from the Navy Reserve.
Director
Jonathan Theel is a South Dakota native who recently retired as a Captain in the U.S. Coast Guard. He has more than three decades of experience in high-stakes environments such as search and rescue, emergency and crisis management, and law enforcement. In the Coast Guard, he served on small boats, cutters, and U.S., British, and Dutch naval vessels across the East and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, Caribbean, and Persian Gulf. He also served as Assistant Commandant of Cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a military fellow at RAND Corporation. Since moving back home to Sioux Falls, he has been heavily involved in volunteering for the American Legion and Midwest Honor Flight, starting a drone crop spraying business, and serving as the Executive Director of the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance.
Director
Mark Winter retired from the U. S. Naval Reserve as an electronics technician chief petty officer, after serving 28-plus years. He then retired with 30 years of federal service from the U.S. Postal Service, where he was an electronics technician who maintained mail processing equipment. He is the current commander of the Sioux Falls Area Veterans Council, first vice commander of Hartford American Legion Post 118, senior vice commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 628, and a member of Post 118 and Post 628 funeral honor guards. He is past president of the Tri-State Navy Chiefs Association and past commander of American Legion Post 118.
Director
Nicki Ransom is proud to serve as the council’s IT expert. A Navy daughter and Gold Star Marine mum, she carries a deep personal connection to the sea services and is dedicated to honoring the legacy of service members and their families. Professionally, Nicki works as a virtual assistant and bookkeeper for a real estate agent in Oakland, California, where she applies her organizational skills, technical expertise, and attention to detail to support business operations. Beyond her work and Navy League service, she devotes much of her time to honoring veterans and Gold Star families. She sews quilts for Quilts of Valor, sews casket liners for the Veterans Honored Interment, writes gratitude and holiday cards for Veterans’ Last Patrol, and attends veteran funeral services with area honor guards as an American Gold Star Mother. Nicki is also an active member of the Marine Corps League Dakota Marine Detachment #659, the Sioux Falls American Legion Auxiliary Unit 15, and the J. M. Bliss Post 628 VFW Auxiliary, where she continues to support and uplift military families and their communities. we*******@**************ak.org
