Oscar was born August 24, 1924, to Ozra and Ellis (Bidleman) Walthall at New Underwood, SD. Following high school graduation, Oscar served in the US Army during World War II. Following his honorable discharge, he married Alice Schumaker in Belle Fourche, SD, in 1951. Oscar worked as a miner at Homestake Gold Mine in Lead.

Oscar was a very eccentric man and no matter how you met him you would see this. Whether it was his personal inventions such as 2 tires fitted together to create the world's fastest spinning single person merry go around or with his ideas about life. Either way he was very loving and would do almost anything for anyone. However, it is that you know him and will remember him and he will always be the world's best Grandpa to 4 grandkids.

Not only did he create so many different things for us but he also had a playful side. One summer when Michael was visiting, Grandpa built him a skateboard ramp and bought him a skateboard. Michael never let me play on the ramp or board. So one morning while Mike was sleeping Grandpa grabbed the skateboard and told me to come along. We got out to the shed and he put the board at the top of the ramp and told me to have a seat, which I did. He pushed me down the ramp and things didn't go as expected. I ended up falling backwards and getting splinters all down the back of my neck. When we got back to the house, Grandma tore Grandpa up one side and the other, leaving Grandma to pick all the splinters out. When I was younger, they had an old recliner and would play a game called down the drain, which consisted of tipping the recliner backwards and falling to the ground.

Most people may not know this but Grandpa was a very patient man with his grandkids. This was a trait many adults may not have seen but when we were kids was endless. One afternoon, Grandpa found Heleina with a wooden baseball bat beating on his big red dump truck. He asked her why she was doing this. Her response was that she was bored. He then asked, "Why don't you do this to your mom's car?" Heleina innocently replied, "Cause mom will get mad at me." From what I remember, the severity of her punishment was getting the bat taken away. Not only did he calmly deal with beating of his property but even on himself. While going through a tool box, I pulled out a wrench asking, "What's this," at the same time whacking him in the face causing a huge gash on his eye. Along with patiently taking punishment to himself and his belongings, he patiently stood by our side while we figured things out. During winter months, we all know what can happen with a wet tongue on a frozen fence. Well, as a child it may have taken us a few times to figure this out. Luckily he was patient enough to help get us unstuck each and every time. Even when I thought I was playing king of the mountain only to find out it was a fire ant hill I was the king of. Or in the middle of a freezing cold winter day and had to go chop ice for the cows only to be bored as a child and to think a good idea would be to throw the ice back into the water; because doing that somehow would make standing in a stuffed full snow suit in the freezing cold would make it move along faster.

Being a grandparent has its perks but he also used this role to reach us life lessons. The main life lesson I remember was how babies were made. Every breeding season we would have to go watch the cows reproduce. I remember asking, "Why are we watching this?" His fast thinking response was, "This is how your parents made you." Needless to say, I was speechless. He also taught us how to drive, however there was a catch. We always had to drive the truck. Being younger, we didn't understand the reason why, but now we are very thankful. Having to drive the truck taught us how to drive a manual, a lost art in today's world.

He so lived up to the quote, "Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." He taught all of us how to fish, whether it was using too much bait on a single hook to catch the big one, or while in a metal canoe having to cross under an electrical fence, keeping in mind not to touch the fence. Fishing with him was always a memorable experience.

Oscar lived to be 92. While we are all grateful for this, it would be an understatement to say we are shocked. He always had his way of doing things or living life on the edge. When he built his house, he didn't have a meter for the electrical. He just locked his fingers and slightly tapped the wire to test it. Take even a rattlesnake, most of us would move along and avoid one as much as possible. Not Grandpa. Heleina needed something for show and tell when she was in kindergarten. While checking on the cows out in the pasture, we came across a rattlesnake. Grandpa, with only rocks and his bare hands, captured and beheaded this rattlesnake so his youngest granddaughter had a show and tell item.

Oscar left us with many, many, memories; most of them are very unforgettable and priceless. He loved his family very much and his family loved him unconditionally.

Oscar G. Walthall, 92, of Sturgis, died Friday, February 24, 2017, at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Fort Meade, SD.

He is survived by his wife, Alice, Sturgis, 2 children; Jerry (Theresa), SC, and Judy, IL, three sisters; Edna, Alma and Jeneva, CA, 4 grandchildren; Michael (Codey), NC, Phillip (Hope), SC, Holli (Michael),and Helenia (Cameron) KS, and numerous great-grandchildren, we can only hope some of his eccentric qualities get passed through the generations. Grandpa, you are missed and will be remembered forever.

Memorial services will be Sunday, February 26, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. at Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis with an inurnment at a later date at Black Hills National Cemetery.