Wilma G. "Mike" vanBeckhoven, 88, Sturgis, died Friday, May 20, 2011 at the Rapid City Regional Hospital.

Memorial services will be 10 a.m. Thursday, May 26, 2011 at the Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis. Inurnment with military honors will follow at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, memorial contributions may be given to the charity of the donor's choice.

Mike was born August 27, 1922 at Oldham, SD, to William and Alta (Borah) Mikel. She graduated with honors from Oldham High School in 1940. She moved to the Black Hills and worked in and around Lead when not attending Black Hills Teachers College. She was in her second year of college when World War II began.

She joined the US Navy WAVES in the spring of 1943 and attended Navy Training School in Stillwater, OK. She was stationed in the Navy Department in Washington, DC and New York City. After her honorable discharge in 1945 she was employed by B. Altman and Company on Fifth Avenue where she met and later married Joseph vanBeckhoven on December 28, 1947. The couple spent two years working at beach resorts in Springlake, New Jersey and Delray Beach, Florida.

After returning to Whitewood where her family lived, they moved to Rapid City in 1950. In 1959 Mike began what became a 35 year career associated with the liquor industry. She was the hostess in the Carousel Lounge of the Sheraton Johnson Hotel, manager of the Esquire Dinner Club and the East Boulevard Liquor Store. In 1985 she moved to Newell and managed the Bar and Liquor Store from which she retired in 1995.

She moved to Sturgis in the fall of 1998.

Survivors include her son Joseph Mikel vanBeckhoven, Rapid City; daughter, Lori Svoboda, Sioux Falls, SD; three grandchildren, L.J. Svoboda, Rapid City, Lindsey Svoboda and Carly Svoboda, both of Sioux Falls.

She was preceded in death by her parents and one sister.

Click on link to view service folder