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Alma Skillingstad witnessed 100 years of a changing world


Funeral services for Alma Skillingstad, 100, of Mobridge, will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, at Trinity Lutheran Church.
Interment will be at Norway Lutheran Church Cemetery, rural Glenham, under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge.
Visitation is Friday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m. with a prayer service at 7 p.m. at Kesling Funeral Home.
Alma passed away on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019, at Mobridge Regional Hospital.
Alma (Landis) Skillingstad was born on Jan. 14, 1919, in Selby. Her family home was near Trail City. Her mother was taken to Selby by her husband to his cousin’s house, because of the tragic 1919 flu epidemic so she was safe being born in a hospital. That was a beginning of her strength for 100 years.
Many times, conversations were of trials of hard work, accidents, sorrow and happiness. Changes of buckboard wagons to ships to the moon. Visiting by horseback to seeing someone talk on the computer. She accepted all life changes by always saying, “What will be, will be.” She enjoyed cooking, baking, canning, embroidering and crocheting. She loved family get-togethers with her daughters and grandchildren. She was always the head cook and menu planner.
As a young woman she worked at the American Café. After an accident, she went to work for Dr. Harris as a nanny until his family moved. She then went to work at the Silver Grill where she met her husband, Clayton. They traveled state to state while Clayton worked construction. They returned to Mobridge where their daughter, Marilyn, was born. Her last job was with the Mobridge Care Center when it first opened. Her standing joke was I opened the doors, lived there, and closed the doors. She then transferred to Walworth County Care Center in Selby.
Many people would ask how she made it to 100. Her answer was keep working and moving, use it or lose it.
Alma is survived by her daughter, Marilyn Reimer; grandchildren, Julie and Gregory Reimer; great-grandchildren, Grace, Danielle and Charolette; sisters, Elenore Pfitzer, Irene Walz, Avina (Albert) Harp, and Phylis (Oscar) Prasek; and sister-in-law, Hilda Landis.
Alma was preceded in death by her husband, Clayton Skillingstad; parents, John and Lena (Herman) Landis; brothers, Oscar, Lenhard and Norman Landis; sister, Erma (Landis) Wahl; and son-in-law, Daniel Reimer.

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