William S. Nickels

William S. "Bill" Nickels, age 78, Clark, died early Wednesday morning, August 31, 2005 in the Avera McKennan Hospice at Sioux Falls. Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 9AM in the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ at Clark. Visitation will be held 1 hour prior to services at the Church on Saturday morning. A second service will be held at 4PM in the Community and Youth Involvement Center at Ft. Pierre. Visitation will be held 1 hour prior to services in Ft. Pierre also. Burial will be at 6PM in the Scotty Phillips Cemetery in Ft. Pierre. Officiants will be Pastor Donna Nickels and Greg Furness. Music at the Clark services will be provided by Wendy Christman. Honorary casketbearers will be Bob Jacobsen, Vic Mahutga, Brian Hurley, MD, Addison Tolentino, MD, Lou Ann Streff and Charles Langdeau. Boots, Troy, Casey and Cole Nickels, Steve Wicks and Nick Aguayo will serve as the active casketbearers. He was born in a tent, during a South Dakota blizzard, on the LaRouche Bottom 45 miles southeast of Ft. Pierre on November 9, 1926, the son of Fred and Anna (Carstens) Nickels. He attended a one-room country school at LaRouche Bottom through the 8th grade. Following his schooling he went to work herding sheep for neighbors. On June 1, 1952 he was united in marriage to Donna Ray O'Day at Memorial Lutheran Church in Pierre. The couple lived and ranched southeast of Ft. Pierre. For some 18 years Bill worked for Cory Clarke. He worked for the Stanley County Highway Department as a road maintainer operator for 15 years. He later helped area ranchers with their herds until retiring and moving to Clark in 1997. Besides his love of the land, the outdoors and the peace and quiet of the prairie, he enjoyed leather tooling, fishing, hunting and rodeos. Since moving to Clark he has enjoyed gardening. Once you could get Bill to leave the ranch, he loved to travel, in fact, in a diary of his, which he has kept for many years, it was written on a trip to visit his daughter in Alaska---'Saw abundant wildlife ' one ground squirrel!' Needless to say he enjoyed laughter. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Order of Easter Star. Grateful for having shared in his life is his wife Pastor Donna Nickels of Clark, children, Boots Nickels, Luveta Nickels-Wicks and husband Steve all of Clark, Danna Nickels and husband Robert Jacobsen of Fairbanks, Alaska, Tracy Nickels-Aguayo and husband Nick of Clark and Troy Nickels and wife Becki of Washington, Georgia; 5 grandchildren, Darrick, Adam, Cole, Casey and Calli, 2 great-grandchildren, twin boys, Tyler and William, 3 step-grandchildren, Andrew, Bryan and Jennie Lynn and 3 step-great-grandchildren, Taylor, Ashley and Andrew and his special buddy, Norman. Preceding his in death were his parents, Fred and Anna, siblings, Helen Mann, Freddie, Maggie, Walter and Clause Nickels and his favorite horses Smokey and Sundown. The Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family. Email condolences to www.furnessfuneralhome.com