Gayle Durgin, 80 of Rapid City, SD passed away on Saturday, January 30, 2021at Monument Hospital, Rapid City, SD.

A private family funeral service will be held on Thursday, February 4, 2021 with interment to follow in the family lot in Rose Hill Cemetery in Spearfish.

Gayle Durgin was born Gayle Knutson, child 14 out 15 of Albert Knutson and Selma (Peterson) Knutson.  She was born in the Hettinger Hospital of Hettinger, North Dakota, July 23, 1940, after her twin brother, Gary Sheldon. She died January 31 ^st , at 12:05 am.

Gayle started life on a farm in North Dakota. One of the earliest memories Gayle's family has of her is going up to her daddy with his fishing pole, saying, "Go fishin', Daddy? Go fishin'?"  Her older sisters Arlene & Doris took credit for raising her, her twin brother, Gary, and her little sister, Mable. However, she would shake her head and say, "I only remember Mama."  Gayle's father, Albert, died when she was only 5 years old.  Her mother had to sell the farm, move to town, go to work as a waitress, send her oldest daughters to California to work, and continue to raise her youngest six children.

Gayle remembered growing up in Reeder, North Dakota, fondly, and she was close to her siblings.  She was not the best student (we found her report cards), but she was a Cheerleader for the Reeder Rockets and had many friends. She graduated from high school in 1957. Her mother wanted her children to all attend college if they could.  Gayle didn't want to.  (She was having too much fun with her friends.) But Selma said, "Give it a year." She attended Black Hill State College where she was Homecoming Queen her Junior year and Miss Black Hills her Senior year. She met Jerry & Max Durgin, fraternal twins, in their Freshman year in college.  Jerry asked Gayle out three times.  He claims if she had said she was busy again that third time, he wasn't going to try again.  (We think he would have.) Gayle decided she would continue with college.  She obtained her BA in Drama in 1962.

Jerry proposed to Gayle. Jerry thought about postponing the wedding until after he had his master's degree. Gayle said, "That's fine, but then I'm joining the Air Force." Jerry Durgin and Gayle Knutson were married August 19 ^th , 1962 at the First Methodist Church in Spearfish, South Dakota.  Max, Jerry's twin brother, married JoAnne Hanson. While Jerry obtained his master's degree at the University of Northern Colorado-Greely, Gayle went to work teaching in Fort Lupton.  Max & Jerry did a lot of hunting to help keep them all in meat.  Gayle said she didn't ever care to eat deer, duck, or goose ever again.

Gayle & Jerry's first daughter, Moxa L. Durgin, was born to Jerry & Gayle in Sterling, Colorado, April 10 ^th , 1965.  When Jerry graduated, he went to work as a programmer for NASA at Cape Kennedy, Florida, to work on the Apollo moon mission.  After the shuttle blew up on the launchpad, Jerry decided he didn't want to work where a miscalculation could have such drastic results.  Gayle, Jerry, and Moxa moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, where Jerry told Gayle that it was her turn to get her master's degree.  Once again, she said she didn't want to go to college, but "Jerry insisted."  She graduated from South Dakota State University with her master's degree in Counseling in May and gave birth to their second daughter in June… June 11 ^th , 1968.

Gayle and Jerry met their to-be son in 1978.  Kelly Wilkins was dating their daughter Moxa. They came to learn that Kelly was having a tough time in his own home and was going to run away at 14 years old in 1979.  Instead, they convinced him to stay with them, and continue school. Kelly will never forget that Gayle co-signed his first truck, so that he could make money during the summer, cutting wood.  She never forgot that he paid it all back early.

Gayle & Jerry remained in Rapid City until 1980. Gayle was the Guidance Counselor for North Junior High and Jerry worked at the Western Educational Planning Center, and then the Rapid City National College of Business. In 1980, Jerry took a position with ARCO, the Atlantic Richfield Company, in Butte, Montana, as a programmer.  It was hard for them to leave their beloved Black Hills and their little house on 241 East Idaho.  For the first time since she was 13, Gayle didn't work or go to school.  She decided to stay home and enjoy being a mother and "lady of leisure" (ha-ha). Kelly enrolled in the nearby Anaconda Job Corp, and Gayle went to pick him up every weekend, to spend the weekend at home.  Much of that time, Jerry would steal him away to go fishing, often meeting up with his brother, Max, and his two sons, Scott and Shane. Jerry led his family through many adventures.

Jerry's sixth sense kicked in and he foresaw the closing of the Butte copper mine, and transferred to Tonopah, Nevada just 10 months later.  Gayle was bored with staying home, but the school didn't have an opening for a counselor or a teacher.  She went to work in "the pit," making change at the Mizpah Casino, then moved on to the Post Office. Gayle's daughters enrolled in the local school, and Kelly joined the National Guard. Before Jerry foresaw the layoff in Tonopah, and moved his family to Wright, Wyoming in 1983, right after Moxa's graduation from High School.

Moxa, went to college at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, while Stacey attended Wright Jr./Sr. High School and Gayle became the Guidance Counselor for both the Jr./Sr. High School and Rippleside Elementary. Stacey graduated from High School in 1986, and though she went to a local campus during the 1986-87, Gayle and Jerry became "empty nesters" in 1987.  They had lost track of Kelly, but often talked about him and wondered how he was doing. Moxa graduated from the University of Laramie in May 1988 and moved to Portland, Oregon to attend the Western States Chiropractic College, from which she graduated and became "Dr. Moxa" in December 1991. Stacey followed Moxa to Portland in 1989, to attend the University of Portland. In June 1992, Gayle attended the delivery of her first grandchild, Jerry Lee, and Stacey got to see her mother fall in love.  Stacey received her bachelor's degree in English, December 1992 and master's degree in Composition and American Literature from Portland State in June 1993.

Moxa moved to Utah to begin work as a chiropractor at States Chiropractic.  She met and was married to Mike Worischeck May, 21 ^st , 1994. Stacey moved to Montana to teach Composition and Literature at Miles Community College.  She then moved to Aitkin, Minnesota to marry Dennis Ruschmeier in 1995.

Gayle decided 42 years of work was enough and retired in June 1995.

Gayle's only granddaughter, Cassa Selrayne Ruschmeier, was born May 25, 1997.  Moxa and Mike gave Gayle her second grandson, Kalel David Worischeck, October 20 ^th , 1999.

Jerry retired in 1999, and Jerry and Gayle returned to their beloved Black Hills, to a home on a hill near Hill City, South Dakota. They also began life in an RV and journeyed with Max and JoAnne to Alaska to spend a month fishing.  After that, Moxa and Stacey never knew where their parents were, as they travelled around, camping and fishing and enjoying life together.

One of their greatest fortunes in moving back to the Hills was a man that walked up to them from a familiar green pick-up and said, "Mom?!"  It was Kelly.  Gayle and Jerry had their son back.  And they didn't let him go. Kelly was able to rejoin the family, camp and fish with his "parents" once again and became a huge help in handling repairs around their home.

Gayle's last grandbaby, Mason Kincade Ruschmeier, was born to Stacey, August 4 ^th , 2002. She thought her heart was full.

Moxa, Mike, and Kalel moved to the Hills with Gayle and Jerry in 2012.  Their family had been hit hard by the downturn of the economy and the reduction in the California workforce.  Gayle and Jerry welcomed them into their home to get them onto their feet.  Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, Mike was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and Moxa was diagnosed with leukemia.  Luckily, Stacey was a 100% bone marrow transplant match, which effectually cured Moxa's leukemia.  However, Mike passed away from a cardiac arrest January 30, 2013.  Gayle and Jerry took care of Moxa through recovery and helped parent her son, Kalel.  As they grew older, Moxa took over the caregiver role, helping her parents to stay in their Black Hills home.

During their retirement and golden years, Gayle and Jerry spent much of their vacations visiting their children and grandchildren or having them come to visit.  In 2006 they even took the oldest three grandchildren to Yellowstone National Park. In 2010, Jerry Lee blessed Gayle with her first great-grand child, Rowan Brady.  Holding him, she felt her heart grow bigger yet again.  Jerry married Anna in January 2011. Jerry and Anna have given Gayle three more grandchildren: Emberlynn Mae (2013), Whitaker Lee (2015), and Barek Albin (2019), Albin.

Survived by: Husband, Jerry A. Durgin, daughters, Moxa L. Durgin Worischeck and Stacey. Durgin Smith (Brent O Smith), adopted son, Kelly Wilkins (Lynn Wilkins), grandchildren Jerry L. Ruschmeier (Anna Ruschmeier), Cassa S. Ruschmeier, Kalel D. Worischeck, and Mason K. Ruschmeier, great-grandchildren Rowan B. Ruschmeier, Emberlynn M. Ruschmeier, Whitaker L. Ruschmeier, and Barik A. Ruschmeier, sister Mable Jones (Rocky Jones) and brothers, Albert (Junior) Knutson and Gary Knutson and Brother-in-Law, Max Durgin.

Preceded in death by: Sisters: Ada Kamrath, Gladys Heier, Arlene Reynolds, Louise Goss, Doris Kroneberger, Beverly Hanson, brothers, Arol (Bud) Knutson, James Knutson, and Charles Knutson, and Son-in-Law, Michael C. Worischeck, Brother-in-Law, John Durgin, and Sister-in- Law, JoAnne Durgin