Shirley  Kluthe

CELEBRANT
Fr. Randy Phillips
LECTORS
Lindsay Dummer and Linda Kluthe
MUSIC
Organist ~ Georgianne Pravecek
Trumpet Soloist ~ Pat Weight
Congregational Hymns
“Here I Am Lord”
“Prayer of St. Francis”
“Oh Loving God”
“Holy God We Praise Thy Name”
CASKETBEARERS
Troy Kluthe
Mike Dummer
Neil Weight
Jon Mortimore
Brian Mortimore
Francis Serr
Shirley Gertrude Mortimore was born to Arthur and Flena (Brisbine) Mortimore on June 29, 1918, on a farm east of Plankinton.  The family lived in South Dakota and Wyoming while Shirley was growing up, so she attended Hopper School east of Plankinton and graduated from high school in Gillette, Wyoming, in 1936.  She was a talented athlete on the girls basketball, track, and kittenball (softball) teams.  She attended basic teacher training that summer and began teaching in rural country schools.  Eventually, she earned her bachelor’s degree at Dakota Wesleyan University.
While teaching at the Kluthe School south of White Lake, she met Robert Kluthe, whom she married in 1941.  During World War II, Bob served for a time in the Army, and Shirley joined him at Ft. Lewis, Washington.  Upon his discharge, they moved to Portland, Oregon, where she worked in a ship building plant as a “Rosie the Riveter.”   Bob and she worked in factories until 1949, when they moved back to Plankinton with their two young sons, Terry and Tom.   Shirley continued her work as a rural school teacher until she began teaching at the State Training School near Plankinton, where she taught for 17 years.   In retirement, she served as the senior citizens center nutrition coordinator for a few years.  She loved cooking, bowling, playing bingo, pinochle, Yahtzee, and other card games, and putting together puzzles.  They always had house pets, and she was very kind to their pet cats and dogs.  She enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, and adored her great grandbabies.
Shirley continued to live in her home in Plankinton until August of 2011, when she moved to the Good Samaritan Center, Scotland, SD, to be near her son, Terry.   She died on November 13, 2014 at the Avera Landmann Jungman Hospital in Scotland. 
She is survived by her son, Terrance (Terry) Kluthe and his wife, Linda, two grandchildren, Lindsay (Mike) Dummer of Lennox, SD, Troy Kluthe of Scotland, SD, three great grandchildren, Allison, Matthew, and Ashley Dummer of Lennox, SD, one sister, Joyce Brotherston of Philadelphia, Pa., one sister-in-law, Maureen Mortimore, of Mitchell, SD, and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert, in 1970, her son, Thomas, in 2011, three brothers, Charles (Bud), Jack, and Robert and four sisters, Beryl, Verena, Venus, and Hazel.