Funeral services for Ardys Nilsen, 79, of Sundance, WY formerly of Lemmon, SD will be Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church in Lemmon. Rev. Ken Miller will offiicate and burial will follow at the Greenhill Cemetery in Lemmon. Visitations will be from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25 at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon and one hour prior to the service at the church on Wednesday afternoon.

ARDYS LaVERYLE FOSS was born in Maynard, IA on September 25, 1927 to Floyd and Grace (Smith) Foss. Her family moved to the Dakota's in February of 1928 and arrived by train in Haynes, ND. Ardys went to school by horse and buggy or on horseback. She joined 4-H and won various ribbons and prizes at the county and state fairs for her gardening produce, canning, preserving and pickling, along with sewing and embroidery.


Ardys was married to Milo Nilsen on March 30, 1946, after he came home from WWII. They began their life together on his father's ranch before purchasing a neighboring farm on the North Grand River, west of Shadehill, SD. Ardys and Milo lived there for 32 years, bringing up their family and providing for them all with their hard work, farming and ranching.


Ardys belonged to the Farmerettes Women's Club for 25 years, holding various offices, taught Sunday school and Vocation Bible School. In 1969, after a serious car accident in which Ardys, Milo, their son, Roger and daughter, Mardel were involved, with her husband Milo, being hurt the worse; the decision was made to move to town for his recovery. Her sons, Floyd and Merle remained on the farm. Ardys found work in town, working at Hillcrest Care Center as a cook. She also worked for Social Services in Lemmon, SD for five years. In 1977 they moved to Mobridge, SD where Ardys was a Home Health Supervisor for seven years, working in five counties and supervising 24 Home Health Care workers. Her husband, Milo's health continued to fail and he passed away in 1983. Ardys lived in Mobridge for two more years before moving back to Lemmon, SD, then to Hulett, WY in 1987, where she continued to provide Home Health Care on her own for eight more years. She was active in the Senior Citizen's as a Senior Companion. She loved to play bingo and stayed very active in all activities. She entered the Sundance Long Term Care Center in October of 2005 and stayed as active as she could. Ardys truly loved to visit with her friends and especially her family, grandchildren and great grandchildren.


Ardys Nilsen passed away at the Rapid City Regional Medical Center in Rapid City, SD on Friday, September 21, 2007. She will be missed greatly by her family and others that were blessed to have known her.

Grateful for having shared in her life are her sons, Floyd, of Gillette, WY and Roger, of Alladin, WY and daughter, Mardel (Barry) Martin, of Rapid City, SD; 16 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren. Preceding Ardys in death were her parents, her husband, Milo, two sons, Merle and Leonard, three grandchildren, Charles, Carol and Chris and a daughter-in-law, Charlie.