Thelma (Tillie) Nesland

Thelma (Tillie) Nesland was welcomed into the world on July 10, 1918 by Ed and Ida Mae Nelson, when born at their homestead in St. Philip, Wibaux County, Montana. Over time the family grew to include eleven children: Inez, Norman (who died at age eight), Mabel, Ardis, Thelma, Burness (who died at age 15), Edna, Selmer, Kenneth, Carol (who died at age 4), and Noreen.
Tillie started school in St. Philip at six, then the family moved when she was seven to a larger farm located in Carlyle, Montana, where she and her six sisters attended school. In 1930, the family moved to a ranch near Red Elm, South Dakota where she graduated from the eighth grade at the height of the Depression and Dirty Thirties, forcing her to go to work waitressing at a café in Faith.
  Tillie met Virgil, her future husband who predeceased her, at a dance in Dupree. She and Virgil married on June 24, 1938, a few weeks before she turned 21.  Along with being a stay-at-home mom and homemaker, Tillie kept the books for the bottled gas part of the West River Oil business she and Virgil owned and operated in Faith for 40 years. Together they raised three boys: Bob, Larry and Jim. Tillie prided herself on tutoring them to hunt rabbits, catch and clean fish and be the best at whatever you do. Bob and his wife live in Rapid City. Larry passed away four years ago. Jim and his wife spend time between Scottsdale, Arizona and the Denver area.  She was blessed with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
When asked, ‘what are the most significant things that have happened in her lifetime?’, Tillie said buying her first house with running water, in-door plumbing, a refrigerator and a clothes washing machine–things she dreamed of growing up. Tillie especially enjoyed going back and forth from Faith to Arizona during the cold winters after Virgil retired. She recalled on one trip to Arizona, she and Virgil stopped at a hotel and watched what they both thought was the most amazing event of their lifetimes--the first moon landing. After Virgil died in 1984, Tillie continued driving back and forth to Arizona for another 20 years with her dear friends Margaret Thompson and Verna Mae Thomas, who helped her with driving, playing slot machines at the Pueblo Indian casinos in New Mexico and Arizona and playing three-handed pinochle during stopovers at motels.
  One of her favorite memories was her 95th birthday party.  “It was a blast! There must have been 135 people and, at the end, they were running out of tables for people to sit. The room was decorated, the tables had special centerpieces with pictures, and Butch Samuelson played the piano. Some of my great grandchildren played wonderful songs on their violins and some sang songs to me. Everyone greeted me with raves of “how good you look…for your age!”
  Tillie would like to be remembered as someone who was always thankful that she had three boys. “They were always good, even when they didn’t want to be. I want them to enjoy their family like I enjoyed them.” She felt blessed to have had so many grandchildren and great grandchildren–all of whose names she could remember to age 98 when she died. We all will always remember her.
  A Celebration of Life will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, July 2, 2016 at Primrose Retirement Community, 224 E. Minnesota Street, Rapid City.
  Behrens-Wilson Funeral Home is in care of the arrangements and condolences may be conveyed to the family through the funeral home website, behrenswilsonfh@midconetwork.com