Funeral services for Alma Herman will be held Thursday, October 1, 2009, at 11:00 AM at the Nisland Independent Community Church with Pastor Doug Clark officiating. Burial will be at the Pine Slope Cemetery in Belle Fourche at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. She passed away at her home in Nisland at the age of 93.

Visitation will be 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday with the family present from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis.

Alma was born in Iliff, CO, on July 28, 1916, to John and Natalia Rothermel. She was the ninth of eleven daughters. All ten of her sisters preceded her in death along with one brother, the youngest child, who was killed in WW II.

The Rothermel family moved from Colorado to Illinois in 1923 where Alma attended a Lutheran School in Melrose Park. In 1929, the family moved to South Dakota and lived in the Belle Fourche and Nisland area.

She married George Herman on February 17, 1934. They lived in Belle Fourche for four years and then moved to Nisland and farmed in the area for many years. They had four children. Her family was always her first priority and she was a wonderful mother.

Alma was a very active member of the Nisland "church on the hill" which was designed and built by her father, John Rothermel in 1930. For many years, she was active in the Ladies Aide, sang in the church choir, and was Sunday School Director and teacher. She was a long-time member of the Riverside and Hillside Extension Clubs. Alma always had a very large flower and vegetable garden and won many ribbons at the County Fair for her prize produce and flowers. She always shared her flowers and furnished many beautiful bouquets for the church altar on Sunday mornings.

She was very interested in geneology and did extensive research of her family's history. She was a member of the German from Russia Historical Society.

Survivors are her children: Bernita (Darrell) Payne of Albuquerque, N.M; Bradley (Jacqueline) Herman of Rochester, MN; and Bryant (Karrol) Herman of Nisland. There are also eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchilden, along with many nieces and nephews.

Preceding her in death were her parents, John and Natalia Rothermel; her husband of 58 years, George; one infant son, Sheldon George; ten sisters: Natalia and Olinda Rothermel, Erna Ludanyi, Pauline Emig, Mae Roscoe, Leona Zwetzig, Mary Miller-Schneider, Matilda Ruff-Hooten, Freida Simpson, and Esther Strohmeyer, and one brother, John Jr.

In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established for the Nisland Independent Community Church or the Nisland Volunteer Fire Department.