Roy Theodore Hulm, age 93

Roy T. Hulm

Roy Theodore Hulm, age 93, Bison and Meadow, South Dakota, longtime farmer and musician, passed away early Monday morning, February 20, 2017 at Western Horizon Care Center, Hettinger, North Dakota.

Mass of Christian Burial was at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 25 in Bison at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Father Ed Vanorny and Pastor Tera Lowe will officiate. Burial was in the Galloway Cemetery, Meadow.  There was a visitation at the Centennial Chapel of Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Hettinger on Friday, February 24 from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. and beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the church on Saturday, prior to the funeral Mass in Bison.     


Roy was born on May 6, 1923 on the Meadow-area family farm where he spent most of his life. He was the middle child in a family of ten children born to Joseph John and Anna (Lemer) Hulm.


He attended grade school at Meadow Central and high school in Lemmon, South Dakota, graduating with the Class of 1941.


On November 14, 1947 he married Florence Ward in Renton, WA, bringing her back to the adobe house on the farm at Meadow. They raised their three children - Terry, Becky, Keith - there and eventually built a new house in 1965. Florence succumbed to cancer on August 5, 1979.


Roy “robbed the cradle” when he married a young widow, Beth (Leitch) Beld, 28 years his junior, on December 18, 1984. He was Catholic, she’s Lutheran; he was a Democrat, she a Republican!  


Roy helped Beth raise her five small children to adulthood - Jason, Kendra, Ryan, Amber and Jared Beld.    
Together Roy and Beth had two sons, Kyle and Kirk. Roy was 62 and 66, respectively, when they were born! They made their home in Bison.


Until his health began to fail, he stayed actively involved in farming, driving the 12 miles to and from Bison every day. His farm was his favorite place on earth! Twilight, there, was his favorite time of day.


His farming consisted of wheat and other small grains. He did his own combining and custom combined for some of his neighbors. He also ran a small herd of cows.


Roy planted a large apple orchard, giving most of the fruit away. He was always planting trees and, twice, won the Perkins County Conservation award.


In his younger days, Roy played baseball on Sunday afternoons with a Meadow-area traveling team. He loved telling the same baseball stories over and over! He liked watching professional baseball, too. He didn’t care who won the World Series. He just wanted to watch “seven good games!” He never missed a Super Bowl.


For 50 years, Roy played with various dance bands, beginning with “The Four Roses” when he was 26 years old. Later, he played, mostly, with “The West River Wranglers,” “The Whirlwinds,” and “The Wheels.” His last dance band partner was Jack Waddell in the 1980s and 90s. Together they formed a two-piece band. Roy was self-taught on the drums and accordion and, when nobody else would do it, he also sang.


He once owned a National Final’s  Rodeo saddle bronc named “Country Music” and enjoyed traveling to rodeos to watch him buck, including a couple of times to the National Finals in Oklahoma City in the early 1980s.


Due to failing health and a broken bone, Roy entered Western Horizon Care Center in Hettinger, ND on August 11, 2015. He was lovingly cared for there by a kind staff but, still, he used every trick in the book, trying to catch a ride out of there back to Bison or the farm!   


Roy battled cancer (twice), had two hip surgeries and an open heart surgery in addition to numerous bouts of pneumonia, congestive heart failure and asthma.  On Friday, February 17, 2017 he was diagnosed with Influenza A. He died at WHCC three days later, on Monday, February 20, 2017.


He will be missed by Beth, his wife of 32 years, Bison, SD; his children Terry (Mardi) Hulm, New Underwood, SD; Becky (Craig) Mack, Moline, IL; Keith Hulm, and Kyle Hulm, Bison; and Kirk Hulm, Box Elder, SD; Jason (Wendi) Beld, Timnath, CO; Kendra (Pete) Theobald, Sioux Falls, SD; Ryan (Raven) Beld, West Linn, OR; Amber (David) Jensen, Whispering Pines, NC; Jared (Jenn) Beld, Aurora, CO; grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Erik (Melinda) Hulm, Hugh and Eli; Macee (Geoff) Wilber, Amelia, Josephine and Stella; Graham Mack; Jillian (Kevin) Ray,  Zander and Elinor; and Jesse, Jenna, Madison, Marranda and Marleigh Hulm; Taylor, Tanner, Abigail and Sophia Beld; Tyler and Austin Deibert;  Kaeleigh and Hayden Beld; Jaleigh and Colten Jensen; Taten Lyngstad; Sydne and Symone Beld; Buker (Amy) Beaumont, Derek and Dallas; Megan (Anders) Fjeld, Annika and Nikolai; and Brendan, Joey and Ethan Theobald; Roy’s sister Veronica Barone, New Town, ND; a special nephew, Eddie McKune, Hettinger, ND; and brothers- and sisters-in-law Betty Hulm, Punky Hulm, Barry (Carmen) Leitch, Brad (Deanna) Leitch, Candace Leitch, Brady (Peggy) Leitch, Alta Mae Schmaltz, Bert (Lorraine) Ward, Fred (Deanna) Ward, Margy (Bill) Thompson and Nancy Berg; plus many, many nieces and nephews.


He was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Anna Hulm; his first wife, Florence Ward Hulm; his in-laws, Rose and George Edsall and Gene and Minerva Leitch; his brothers and their spouses Joe (Vivian) Hulm, George (Fern) Hulm, Pius Hulm, Leo Hulm, Francis Hulm; and sisters Angeline Hinson, Alice (Joe) Wokal and Betty (Lyle) Rhoads; brothers-and sisters-in–law Byron Barone, Ben Leitch, Donald (Maxine) Ward; Shirley (David) Harrigan; Syl Schmaltz and Charles Berg.


Memorials have been established to Bison Ambulance and Dakota Prairie Helping Hands.  Condolences to Roy’s family can be sent through our website at www.evansonjensenfuneralhome.com

The Pioneer Review

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Philip, SD 57567
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