Michael Jay Welfl, age 62, died on October 19, 2023 at Hospice House in Rapid City, SD. He was born on December 12, 1960 in Heidelberg, Germany, while his father was serving in the U.S. Army. His parents were Ivan L. Welfl and Donna Charlene (Honey) Welfl (commonly known as Charlene and Char).

Mike grew up in various places, including in order, Lebanon, MO, Springfield, SD, Oelrichs, SD, Forsyth, MT, Pierre, SD, Presho, SD, Kennebec, SD, Gering, NE, and Vale, SD.

He graduated from Lyman High School in Presho, SD in 1979. He received an Associate of Arts Degree from Western Nebraska Community College of Scottsbluff, NE, in 1981 and a Bachelor of Science degree in English and another in History from Chadron State College in 1987. He immediately put his degrees to good use by working for his father for a few months as a bartender in Hardin, MT and for 18 months for his cousin, Terry Sorensen in Sioux Falls, SD. He did construction work from 1989 to 1992 in Vivian, SD, with one of his high-school best friends. He also served as curator of the Lyman County Museum in Presho in the summer of 1990. In 1992-1993 he worked at the South Dakota State Archives in Pierre, until budget cuts eliminated his position. From 1992 to 1994 he was the president of the Lyman County Historical Society.

In 1994 he began many years of research on a PT-boat officer from South Dakota, which soon expanded into research on the entire squadron of 83 men. In 1995 he traveled by bus (an unpleasant experience) to San Diego to meet the officer's brother and the top-ranking enlisted man on his PT boat (who was a four-year POW of the Japanese and retired with the rank of Commander in 1964). Much to Mike's regret, the research grew beyond his limited capabilities in remote South Dakota and western Nebraska. He found it very difficult to gather all of the necessary information from around the U.S. Life (making a living) also got in his way.

He was an assistant librarian at the Gering Public Library from 1996 to 1998. He was then hired as the Network Administrator and Computer Lab Manager (all Macintosh) at Alliance Public Schools from 1998 to 2003. Then, once again, as Fate would have it, budget cuts eliminated his position.

He then spent several very difficult years (2002-2005) dealing this his late father's estate in Wyoming, after which his mother's health deteriorated slowly at first and then very rapidly, He felt it was his duty to remain in Gering and care for her until her passing in 2018.

In 2018, he moved to Vale, SD, for reasons too lengthy, confusing and regrettable to explain. He worked in an on-call capacity as a U-Haul loader/unloader in the Northern Hills. It is his theory that an internal injury on that job in 2023 was the cause of his ultimate demise.

He leaves no survivors. He was preceded in death by his father in 2002, his mother in 2018 and his brother Mark in 2019.

There will be no services.