Dennis Skoog

*******FUNERAL SERVICE FOR DENNIS SKOOG HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2021 AT 10:30 A.M.*******

VISITATION IS STILL THURSDAY, JANUARY 14 FROM 5:00 TO 7:00 P.M. WITH PRAYER SERVICE AT 6:00 P.M.

Dennis Skoog, age 85, of Milbank,  passed away on January 11, 2021.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, January 16, at 10:30 a.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Revillo, SD. Visitation will be on Thursday, January 14, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Mundwiler Funeral Home in Milbank and continue one hour prior to the service at the church in Revillo. Burial will be in the Milbank City Cemetery. Reverend Nathan Neugebauer will officiate.

While maintaining social distancing guidelines, we are now able to gather for visitations and services. The use of face masks by attendees is recommended, and we will continue taking the necessary steps to keep our facility clean. For those who prefer or require continued precautions, webcasting and/or livestreaming will be viewable below this obituary.

Dennis William Skoog was born January 30, 1935, at home, in Vernon Township, Grant County, SD, to Thomas and Emma Elizabeth (Chapman) Skoog. He was the second of five living children. Denny’s family lineage, through his mother, traces back to the Mayflower.

Denny attended Willow Bend Country School through the 8th grade. He was notorious for pulling pranks on the teacher and girls (snakes and mice in desk drawers, hiding the bell, turning over the outhouse, etc.)  He graduated from Milbank High School in 1953.  In the days before big mechanized machinery, Denny, his brothers, and father, hand shoveled the road from their farmhouse where Denny lived for 77 years. Denny farmed his entire life. He moved to the Wilmot Care Center in 2000, due to advanced severe Parkinson’s Disease.

Dennis married Margaret Hendriks Florey on February 17, 1990, at the Congregational Church in Milbank.  He liked to say he “went into the church a bachelor and came out a grandpa of five.”

Denny served in South Dakota National Guard from July 1959 to July 1962 and was called up for the Cuban Missile crisis. Prior to that he had never travelled except to Guard Camp and National Guard base in Colorado Springs. He and some of our local boys would leave Colorado Springs after getting off work on a Friday afternoon, drive all night to get to Milbank and go back on Sunday afternoon.

He served as the Alban Township Supervisor for many years. This included checking the roads after every blizzard, driving his Chevy pickup “Old Blue”. He was committed to placing barricades when roads were impassible, and it broke his heart when a young lady dairy worker, new to our community, went around a ­­­barricade and drowned.

He was a board member of Milbank Congregational Church in 1990s.  He joined St. John’s Lutheran Church, Revillo, August 2018. He was a member of the Willie Whiskers group for the Milbank Centennial. He served as a board member of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation for many years and was a South Dakota Wildlife Federation Youth Conservation Camp counselor for 17 years after retirement. He donated a quarter of land to South Dakota Game, Fish, & Parks for a walk-in hunting area in 2010. It had been CRP land, and he didn’t want to plow it up as it had winter food plots for wildlife, cranberry bushes, apricot, pear and apple trees, a creek and a dugout. Denny loved kids and taught Hunter Safety to 3 generations of Grant County children.
He liked to read, work crossword puzzles, play pinochle, puzzle toys, hunt, and build furniture.

Dennis received many honors related to his conservation and wildlife work: South Dakota Hunter Safety Instructor of the Year 2003,  Game, Fish, and Parks “Habitat Partner of the Year” 2014, South Dakota Wildlife Federation “State Conservationist of the Year” 2010, and “Youth Conservationist of the Year” 2014

After he and Margaret were married, they enjoyed travels to Norfolk VA, Washington, DC, Branson, MO, Las Vegas, NV, San Diego, CA, Montana, Seattle, WA, the North Shore of Lake Superior, West Point, NY, and Niagara Falls. Denny’s favorite travel destination was Alaska; he made nine trips to view and photograph wildlife. He was the winner of Alaska Airlines and Alaska Magazine’s first fishing trip, in 2010, to Sportsman’s Cove Lodge, Ketchikan. His most favorite was a trip to Haines in 2014, to observe eagles and bears up close.

Dennis is survived by his wife Margaret, of Milbank; stepchildren: Mary (Jeremy) Wiebusch, Billings, MT; Guy (Malinda) Word, Harrisburg, SD; brother, Dale “Dick” (Mary) Skoog, Milbank, SD; sister-in-law, Bonnie Skoog Dallas, TX;  six grandchildren: Brent Greiner, Sioux Falls, SD; Kirsten Johanson, Billings, MT; Dr. Amanda Dyer, Mundelein, IL; Sharee Word, Galeburg, IL; Kelsey Johanson, Billings, MT; Carl Johanson, McCana, ND;  twelve great-grandchildren; nieces: Ann Olson Brodeur, St. Paul MN; Val (Robbie) Skoog Hale, Dallas TX; Nikki Skoog, LaMoure ND; Dawn Skoog, Dallas TX; nephews: Pari (Debbie) Skoog, Tea, SD; Aaron (Jody) Skoog, Milbank, SD; Rick Olson, Virginia MN;  Bobby Skoog, Ft Worth TX; and Jason (Benjamin Davis) Skoog, Dallas TX.

He was preceded in death by his parents: Tom and Emma; a baby sister at birth; brother, Thomas Jr in 1973; great-nephew, Jeremy Brodeur, in 2000; sister, Wanda Skoog Olson, in 2003; brother, Gene in 2020; several aunts, uncles and cousins.

Please see our Resources page for a list of local florists.