Helen Dahle

Helen Dahle, age 94, of Milbank, SD, passed away on Thursday, August 3, 2023, at her residence.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 12, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at Living Word Lutheran Church in Milbank, SD. Visitation will be held on Friday, August 11, 2023, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Mundwiler Funeral Home in Milbank with a time of sharing beginning at 6:30 p.m. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday. Pastor Melanie Reiners will officiate the service and interment will be at Milbank City Cemetery.

Helen Marie (Williamson) Dahle was born on May 11, 1929, to Arnt and Alma (Welch) Williamson near Wyndmere, ND. She was baptized and confirmed into the Lutheran Faith. Helen grew up near Wyndmere, attending Garborg #3 country school through grade eight. Helen’s parents purchased a farm near Milnor, ND, the next summer. She went to live with grandparents and two uncles still at home near the new farm until her parents moved to the farm in March. She attended Sydna School while living with them. Helen participated in choir and plays at Milnor High School and played high school girls’ basketball. She enjoyed telling stories of how she caught the eye of a handsome boy who also was a basketball player. She met Roscoe Dahle “my new beau” on February 28, 1945. She and Roscoe dated and later married on August 31, 1947, at the Methodist Church in Milnor.

The newlyweds lived their first year on a farm near Milnor, later moving with son, Allen (born in 1948) to the Dahle homestead, near Albee, SD, and in with Uncle Gerhard Dahle and Aunt Marie Dahle. They became parents of another son, Collis (1949) and daughters, Rita (1950), Linda (1952), Nancy (1957), and Julie (1959) while living on the farm. Helen and Roscoe started the Young Farmer’s 4-H Club where they served as leaders for several years. They later moved into Milbank in 1962 and Uncle Gerhard moved with the family. In 1966, the family was completed with another daughter, Karen. The family moved to a farm two miles north of Milbank in 1968.

Helen and Roscoe loved to dance together. They brought each of their seven children to dances as they graduated from eighth grade, teaching them ballroom dancing and later the kids’ girlfriends and boyfriends, too. They also loved to play cards. Helen had an in-home daycare and sold World Book Encyclopedias, along with Roscoe. The family also served as custodians at American Lutheran Church and mowed area cemeteries for a period of years.

Helen and Roscoe especially enjoyed spending many winters together in Apache Junction where they enjoyed time with Milbank friends who traveled south, and Helen’s sister, Alice and husband, Lee Kenyon.

Roscoe and Helen moved into Milbank in 1981, as Roscoe’s health declined. After his death in 2000, Helen moved into a home on the farm between her sons in 2003. Helen loved living between Allen and Collis on the farm, preparing noon meals and goodies for them to enjoy over coffee. When she could no longer spend winters alone, she would spend winters at daughter Rita’s Home Care. She enjoyed traveling with Rita and son, Allen, to dances in Watertown and Brookings. Her health continued to decline and she was in full-time care by Rita, who took excellent care of her, allowing her to spend her final years in Rita’s home and with her large family that surrounded her. In later years, when she could no longer travel to Arizona alone, she spent winters with daughter, Rita, and several of her other children at Fiesta Grade RV Resort in Casa Grande, AZ. Helen was a 20-year member of the VFW Legion Auxiliary in Milbank and an active member of Living Word Lutheran Church in Milbank.

Helen is survived by her children: Allen (Pat) Dahle of Watertown, SD; Collis (Brenda) Dahle of Milbank, SD; Rita Dahle of Milbank, SD; Linda Gieseke of Greenbush, MN; Nancy (Jim) Weber of Watertown, SD; Julie (Randy) Kruse of Revillo, SD; and Karen (Lloyd) Tillma of Milbank, SD; 22 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; and great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Roscoe; her parents; her sister, Alice and husband, Lee Kenyon; son-in-law, Ernest Gieseke; grandchildren: Christine Gieseke, and Hugh Weber; and great-granddaughter, Ava Weber.