Obituary of Ivy Mae Gall

GALL IVY

Ivy May Gall age 101 of Yankton, SD passed away Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at Walnut Village, Yankton, SD.  Memorial services will be 11:00 AM, Saturday, February 3, 2024 at the United Methodist Church, Yankton, SD with Rev. Katie Ricke officiating.  Private family burial will be in the Garden of Memories Cemetery.  Visitations will be one hour prior to the service at the church.  The Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home & Onsite Crematory, Yankton, SD is assisting with the service details.  Online condolences may be sent at: www.opsahl-kostelfuneralhome.com.

Ivy May (Wood) Gall was born to Clarence and Fae (Crawford) Wood at her grandparents (Mike and Ivy May Crawford) farm northeast of Utica, SD on May 10, 1922.  Her mother, grandmother and baby returned to Fromberg, MT a couple of weeks later and moved to Whitehall, MT two months later.

Her father was a railroad foreman and was transferred to Lesterville, SD where she grew up and attended school and the Ward Memorial Congregational Church where May was involved in school and church activities.

May married Albert J. Gall in Los Angeles, CA on December 20, 1942 where Albert was in the Signal Corp for the Army.  For more training they moved to Chicago, IL and later Camp Crowder, MO before Albert went overseas to North Africa and Italy.  May then moved back to Lesterville where she lived with her parents and awaited the time by doing hand work in sewing, learning to crochet and craft, preparing for the arrival of their son, Terry on November 28, 1943.  When Albert came home in 1945 he started Gall Gas and Oil in Lesterville and in a couple of years, Douglas and Patricia joined the family.

When Terry was a few months old the family realized he had a disability and May and Albert joined two other couples from Yankton and formed the “Association for the Mentally Retarded Children”.   As this parent group grew, their children were enrolled in a Special Classroom in the Yankton district and was the forerunner of where the program is today!  The parents were very grateful to the Yankton Public School District, where May and Albert spent a good part of their lives to make the program successful and continued into later years.

May and Albert moved to Yankton after the sale of his business.  May had worked at White Drug in cosmetics and gifts and was the Assistant Librarian at the High School for over 13 years.

Her husband Albert and both sons preceded her in death.

Survivors are daughter, Patricia (David) Jones, Glenrock, WY; grandchildren:  Chris (Kim) Jones, Clear Lake, MN, Stacie (Mike) Porter, Casper, WY and Jennifer Jones, Casper, WY, and 9 great grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to LifeScape Adult Day Services, 4100 S. Western Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57105.