In the ticket line at Universal Studios long ago, my wife, Nancy, argued with her big brother about why he insisted on paying admission for her whole family.

Terry Gust lived in Los Angeles then — summer of 1986, I think. We visited from South Dakota. Already, he had paid for Disneyland and Magic Mountain. It was our turn, Nancy said.

“But you’re my little sister,’’ Terry told her softly. “I see you so seldom. This is one small thing I can do for you.’’ Whether it was the words or the gentle voice, Nancy got tears in her eyes.

I recalled that moment one recent morning when Nancy answered the phone and learned her big brother was gone. He died overnight in a long-term care place in New Mexico. I haven’t seen the official cause of death, but it was a complication of Alzheimer’s. It had been taking him so painfully slowly for three or four years. The end came more quickly than expected. A blessing, perhaps, but it hurt. To have him gone is sad. To think of him continuing to slip away is unbearable.

He was Nancy’s hero, the big brother — in her world from first consciousness until the day of the phone call. He teased her, taught her and protected her.

He was a hero of mine, too. He and my big brother were high-school pals. Whenever Terry stopped to pick up my brother to go drag Main, he made a point of noticing me — a small gesture but unforgettable to a shy younger kid.

He was taking business classes at Creighton University when I enrolled there as a freshman. When we rode home together on breaks, he treated me as an equal. I felt like one of the gods had reached down and touched a mere mortal.

He offered to loan his car to my friend that year for a spring dance. We walked down California Street to get it. Terry’s roommate said he and the car were gone, headed for Hawaii. I was awestruck. What guy just up and hits the highway for the Coast? Was he James Dean?

He reached Los Angeles, saw the Pacific Ocean and stayed for 30 years or so. Eventually, he tired of the Coast and moved to Longmont, Colorado, where he griped about the “Californians moving in and ruining the place.’’ He also found Joyce there. From then on, they were together. Together they biked and hiked and camped. Together, they escaped the cold for a small town in New Mexico.

It fell to Joyce to care for him as his disease progressed. I can’t find the words to tell her how grateful we were and are to her for all she did. We got occasional reports of the disease’s progression. She saw it day after day, night after night. She lived it all and kept loving him.

That Universal Studios memory, I realize, was a snapshot of who Terry Gust was. Deeply devoted to his family, he nevertheless lived far from the home place in the middle of South Dakota. He would never live here, but he couldn’t keep from coming back just often enough to remember his roots and his kin. He could be a curmudgeon now and then, but he could also fight playfully with a child over a box of Cheez-Its.

Nancy always says he was the kindest, gentlest person she ever knew. In return, when Nancy received a thick, hand-made quilt after she finished treatment for breast cancer 20 years ago, Terry wrote on it, “You are my anchor to my past, and I would be adrift without your joy and love to call me back here.’’

We have been fortunate that for the last two years, weddings in the Rockies have allowed us to share a cabin or house with Terry and Joyce for a few days. The wedding festivities were noisy, but Nancy and Terry found quiet moments to talk, laugh and remember. She could tell he was slipping, but at the center, she still found her big brother.

Since that morning call, we have been feeling adrift ourselves. We will miss his joy and love.

PLANKINTON, S.D (KELO) — To some, Plankinton, South Dakota is just another dot on the map, but if you do enough digging, you will find that the town and the surrounding area have a remarkable story to tell.

The Aurora County Museum tells the story of Plankinton and the surrounding area. There are five different buildings on the property, including a one-room school house, the old Farmer’s Union building, and this claim shanty. It was common for the pioneers that settled here in the late 1800s to live in a building like this.

“People can see how tiny it is and just how difficult it was to live in something like that,” Aurora County Historical Museum vice president Louis Matzner said.

Plankinton is located just west of Mitchell, and when you think of Mitchell, you probably think of the Corn Palace, but believe it or not, Plankinton built a grain palace before them.

“We had it starting in 1891, and it basically was a building that they would decorate just as they do the Corn Palace,” Aurora County Historical Museum treasurer Laura Mayclin said.

The public would gather there to celebrate the harvest, but Plankinton’s grain palace quickly gained some competition.

“When Mitchell began doing the Corn Palace, which they started the year after the grain palace here in Plankinton, well, that just put up so much competition that the Plankinton Grain Palace only lasted for two years,” Mayclin said.

Structure fire in Mitchell sends 1 to hospital

But it wasn’t surprising that Plankinton built a grain palace considering that agriculture has historically been the main driving force behind Plankinton’s economy.

“Agriculture is what Aurora County’s about. There aren’t any major industries, so everything revolves around agriculture and farmers,” Matzner said.

“On East River, it is everything. Every city you see is based on the income from the grains that are produced,” Mayclin said.

The agricultural boom might not have been possible without the railroad that runs through town.

“The railroad coming through here made it where they could transport their goods, so they couldn’t just transport them from one neighbor to the next or one city to the next any more. Now, they could go all the way across the country,” Mayclin said.

As agriculture took off, other industries started to pop up. A company called Aurora Industries was based in Plankinton and manufactured a miniature ferris wheel.

“They were quite dangerous. I don’t think they’d be approved today,” Matzner said.

Another unique event in the area was when a stratosphere balloon that was studying weather patterns landed southwest of Plankinton.

“The stratosphere balloon took off south of Rapid City on November 11th, 1935. Early in the morning at 4:14, it landed 14 miles south of White Lake, made a long trip, attained a new record highs for a balloon of 72,000 feet,” Matzner said.

New South Dakota group pushes against ballot measures

A more recent event that has left a lasting impact on the small South Dakota town: in 2001, a propane leak caused an explosion at the school.

“It kind of changed everybody. Everyone knew people who had gone through that school as students, and then, there were also people who were actually killed,” Mayclin said.

But the town found a way to move forward.

“They rebuilt a school, started fresh, but they still do a lot to just go back and dedicate things to the old school and to the people who passed away during that,” Mayclin said.

Which is a testament to the town’s tight-knit culture.

“I’m obviously a transplant from somewhere else, and I came in here and everybody welcomed me with open arms. I have formed friendships and the people are just wonderful. It’s a good place to be,” Mayclin said.

Another interesting fact about Plankinton is that it was named after a Milwakee meatpacker named John Plankinton, but it is unknown why early settlers chose him as the town’s namesake.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The battle between Life Defense Fund and Dakotans for health continues to play out in the South Dakota court system. Life defense fund alleged that state laws were violated as petition circulators collected signatures for Amendment G

Now, another group of lawyers is entering the conversation.

Lawyers for Freedom Amendment G is a new group being chaired by Renae Christensen and Stephanie Pochop, hoping to advocate for abortion rights in their communities.

“It’s a freedom amendment. Make no mistake about it. This is a slippery slope. If the government is intending on legislating what we can do with our own personal bodies, that is going to give them access to our personal lives in an unbelieve way,” Renee Christensen said, with Christensen Law Office.

“I hope that lawyers still carry enough water and trust among members of the public that we can go and say this is what Amendment G does. Amendment G restores the Roe V. Wade rights that have existed for the last 50 years. It’s not new. It’s not extreme. It’s not wild,” Pochop said, an attorney with Johnson Pochop & Bartling.

Caroline Woods, a spokesperson for the Life Defense Fund, says the case against Dakotans for Health and Amendment G, points to bait and switch tactics, a lack of circulator handouts for those signing the petition, and people signing the same petition multiple times.

The added that they have evidence to back these claims.

“We believe this amendment should not be on the ballot because they cheated their way and they lied their way to get there. The public has no business voting on something like that when they had no business lying and cheating to get there in the first place,” Woods said.

“South Dakota Voters have had this particular issue on the ballot and have expressed a pretty strong opinion about wanting to make sure that women and girls can exercise the right to abortion. I feel like a lot of times our legislators just don’t want to listen to what our voters have to say,” Pochop said.

If the court’s decision isn’t made by November 5 and the measure is voted on and passed, the Life Defense Fund believes Amendment G can still be prevented.

“If we don’t get a decision until after that time the Secretary of State can actually instruct auditors to disregard the votes altogether and not include it in the South Dakota constitution,” Woods said.

“The suggestion that a legal relief would be for the secretary of state to issue a proclamation that votes don’t count is novel at best. I don’t think you’ll find any place in the law where that’s justified,” Nancy Turbak said, the chair of the Freedom Coalition.

All ballot questions must be certified by the Secretary of State by August 15, making it likely that Amendment G will appear on the November Ballot, but its overall future remains unknown.

You can read the Amendment in its entirety HERE.

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