The couple sat in the kitchen of their beautifully crafted home — built by the husband, a former master plasterer — and spoke to the Press & Dakotan about their love for one another, for their wonderful 68 years together and their love for the community of Yankton.
That couple, Roger and Marilyn Huntley, have been named 2024 Yankton Citizens of the Year.
The couple, who have lived in Yankton for most of their lives, received several nominations this year for their dedication to Yankton in arts, aviation, workforce development and countless hours of volunteering.
Various service organizations throughout the community then voted on the nominations, with the Huntleys, emerging as this year’s honorees.
“We are shocked to have received this award,” Marilyn said. “It’s very humbling and very appreciated.”
Roger was born and raised in Yankton, while Marilyn was born in Viborg but moved with her family to Yankton in her early years. She has always considered Yankton home, as well.
The couple were high school sweethearts with Marilyn graduating from Yankton High School in 1954 and Roger in 1955. Two years later, they were married.
Although there have been stints in the Army that took the couple to Germany and then Seattle and a four-year apprenticeship in plastering in California, the Huntleys said they have always felt the call of their hometown.
THE EARLY YEARS
After they were married in 1957, Roger and Marilyn moved to California where Roger would work two years and then serve a two-year union apprenticeship, with a little work for Uncle Sam interrupting — not once, but twice.
Roger was drafted in 1959 when things in Vietnam really began to escalate. Fortunately for Roger and Marilyn, he was stationed at a radio relay site in the Black Forest in Germany. He worked with a small group of radio signal specialists.
He would eventually work it out so Marilyn could join him in the town of Langenbrand, where she would stay with a family Roger had befriended and take care of their children.
The couple returned stateside two years later and Roger went back into work in Yankton, but then was drafted again. This time he was recalled because of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but he was stationed in Seattle.
After that, the couple did move around a bit, but Yankton always called.
During their early years, the Huntleys had two children, Kimberly (Eide) and Todd. Kim was born in Heidelberg, Germany.
When they returned, Roger took advantage of the G.I. Bill and acquired his pilot’s license — one of his many loves.
Roger was and still is integral to Yankton’s Chan Gurney Municipal Airport, serving on the Yankton Regional Aviation Association board, of which he is a past president. Roger provided 265 plane rides to children in Yankton as part of the Young Eagles program.
He was an excellent pilot and earned the Master Pilot Award, which recognizes 50 years of flying without an incident.
Marilyn received her teaching endorsement from Augustana College (now University) and taught kindergarten for a year in Cherokee, Iowa, where she experienced what it was like to be a female teacher in those days.
“We got married right after I taught a year there,” Marilyn said. “Of course, at that time, they did not hire married female teachers because you got pregnant, so I lost my job.”
She eventually wound up with the Department of Labor in Yankton, where she established herself as one of Yankton’s movers and shakers in the workforce recruitment and employer recruitment process. She worked for Job Services for 30 years.
During those early years at Job Services, Marilyn returned to school and received a bachelor’s degree from Mount Marty in human resource management.
Throughout those 30 years, Marilyn was heavily involved with the Yankton Chamber of Commerce and played a pivotal role in bringing manufacturers such as M-Tron and Dale Electronic to town. Marilyn was a member of her professional organization — the International Association of Workforce Professionals — even past her retirement, she enjoyed the camaraderie and the work.
“I worked with employers,” she said. “My favorite part of the job was working with employers and getting them to come to Yankton and finding workers for them. I was there in the beginning with Dale Electronics, and we got M-Tron. Then we had the problem of women going to work and not having enough places for daycare — we really didn’t have daycares back then. Women hadn’t really worked outside the home. They got the factories here, and we had those problems. Things just keep changing, mostly for the better.”
Marilyn was also there at the beginning of the Contact Center and Yankton Transit. She is one of the founding members of Interchange and Riverboat Days.
Roger continued his craft of plaster work and joined the Job Corps in 1980. They would send him around the country to teach his art as a Master Plasterer. Roger was promoted to field coordinator for the Midwest and then his job changed to finding work for Job Corps students.
After Roger retired in 2002, he was asked to be on Yankton’s Restoration Committee because of his skill and quality of work. The organization helps those who are looking to restore old homes or businesses and also encourages people who own those historic properties to embrace the architecture of the period.
Roger took his skills to the Mead Building when it was restored. He volunteered to lead the plaster projects and did a great deal of work on the cornices.
“I’d been trained in that and served part of my apprenticeship practicing cornice work, so that project was a lot of fun,” Roger said. “I finally had the opportunity to use it.”
WHAT IS ART?
Looking at the ceiling in the Huntleys’ home (and at the Mead), the attention to detail brightly shows that Roger was truly an artist in his craft. Perhaps that’s what drew him to artistic endeavors.
Roger, who is part Native American, had started making ceremonial peace pipes, and Yankton artist Scott Luken had noticed the intricate work he had done on those pipes.
“Scott took an interest in my ability,” Roger said. “He gave me a big chunk of rock and said, ‘Try making something out of this.’ I wasn’t sure what to do, but he told me I’d figure it out.”
That first sculpture turned out to be a head, not too dissimilar to the artwork Luken was known for. The two hit it off immediately and, before long, Roger’s a sculptor and an artist.
“He was my best friend and my mentor,” Roger said of Luken, who passed away unexpectedly in 2021.
Luken’s influence must have been immense, because Roger is known not only in Yankton, but across the state as one of the best sculptors around.
This past year, he was named as the Art Advocate of the Year by the Yankton Area Arts Association.
Most people have seen his work but may not know it. He had six sculptures on Yankton’s Riverwalk and has a permanent piece next to the Meridian Bridge. That bronze sculpture is titled “Sioux Indian Pipe Maker” and it won the People’s Choice award in 2011. His sculptures have also been featured on the Norfolk (Nebraska) Riverwalk, and the Grand Island (Nebraska) Sculpture Walk.
He’s also won numerous awards from the South Dakota Masterworks Art Show for his wood carving with the peace pipes. In 2021, his carving entitled “Siamese Cats” was awarded first place and displayed at the state capitol.
For years, the couple volunteered at Beadle School with the peace pipes and gave the children some history lessons.
His restoration work is also highly sought after.
In addition to the Mead, he has restored the cornice work at the state capitol in Pierre, restored the “Crucifixion” statue in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Yankton, the “Jesus” statue at Trinity Lutheran Church and the plaster restoration at the Lawrence County Courthouse in Deadwood. He’s been the instructor on restoration projects at the Calvary Barracks in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and the Scottsbluff National Monument in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
PRAISES
As evidenced above, Roger and Marilyn have been instrumental members of the community their entire lives in many different aspects — art, education, manufacturing, plaster work, workforce recruitment, aviation.
This past fall, the couple received numerous nominations for Citizen of the Year:
“They have made Yankton a better place in so many ways. And they do it with grace, humility and perseverance,” one nomination said. “The ‘Citizen of the Year’ goal has been to recognize unsung leaders, and that’s the Huntleys. We would be hard-pressed to find people who have accomplished so much with such little fanfare. They are models for public service and an inspiration for all who know them.”
The nominations came from the arts community, the aviation community, the business community and the religious community.
Both said they were shocked at the news they had been named Citizens of the Year but were very honored by the recognition.
“It’s unbelievable,” Roger said. “I know so many people that have been honored with that award, and I really looked up to them. I don’t put myself on the same level as those people.”
“We’re just overwhelmed,” Marilyn added. “When I first heard the news and told Roger, he thought someone was joking with us. He said, ‘They must be short of people if they had to resort to us.’”
It seems as though Yankton loves the Huntleys and they have loved it back all these years.
“We just love it here,” Marilyn said. “We have a great education system, great medical services and it’s just a perfect community.”
