Arvilla was born September 6, 1935, east of Newell to Elaine (Long) and Julius Viken where she lived until 1947 when they moved to Horse Creek west of Newell on the old Gardner place.
Arvilla attended Newell School until 1948 and then Horse Creek School for her eighth grade, High School she attended in Newell graduating in 1954, and attended Business College and received a bookkeeping degree. She worked at First National Bank in Rapid City, and lived with the Art Magstadt family until she married, Donald Kivimaki on September 18, 1955. They moved to the Newell area where she later worked at the First National Bank until December 1957, when they moved to the Twilight area. She worked at the bank again in 1959, and 1973 to 1976. She belonged to the Toast Masters Club for a few years.
Arvilla was a partner with her husband from 1988 to 2001, when they sold the farm and they moved to Spearfish.
Arvilla hobbies were sewing and cooking. She enjoyed company and entertaining people for coffee and dinners. Visiting was a joy and enjoyed people.
Arvilla moved to the Memory Care Unit of Edgewood Vista Spearfish in August of 2018, and then to Rolling Hills Healthcare in Belle Fourche in June of 2020.
Arvilla G. Kivimaki, 85, of Belle Fourche, died Tuesday, November 3, 2020, at Rolling Hills Healthcare in Belle Fourche, SD.
Survivors are her daughter, Gail (Dale, her favorite son-in-law) Knutson, Vale; son, Douglas, Phoenix, AZ; two grandchildren, Amanda (Kaylee) Knutson in Chico, CA, and Karl Knutson in Buffalo, SD; brother, Roy Viken, Boise, ID; several nieces, nephews and cousins.
Arvilla is preceded in death by her husband, Donald; an infant son; her parents; and two sisters, and a brother.
Public visitation will be 3 until 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 7, 2020, at the Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis. Private family services will be at a later date with inurnment at Hope Cemetery in Newell.
A memorial has been established to the memory units at Edgewood Vista in Spearfish and Rolling Hills Healthcare in Belle Fourche.

Click on link to view service folder