It is with peace and with sadness that we announce that Leo James Getsgo was promoted to heaven on August 29, 2022.

Leo was born in Lead, South Dakota June 11,1928 to Albert and Anna (Sandeen) Getsgo. He was the youngest of eight children.  His early years were spent in Lead and he often spoke with fondness of the memories he had growing up there.

When World War II erupted, the family moved to Petaluma, California where they lived with one of his sisters and her family. At the end of the war, they returned home to Lead where Leo finished high school, graduating in 1946. After graduation, Leo enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served proudly as an Aviation Storekeeper, stationed in Tsing Tao, China and was honorably discharged in 1948.

Leo returned to the Black Hills after his military service was complete and enrolled in Black Hills Teachers College to study music education. While at BHTC, he renewed his friendship with Dorothy Ann Braddock, a former classmate from Lead High School. They fell in love and were married July 16, 1950.

After graduation from college in 1952, Leo's first teaching assignment was in Palmer, Alaska. He and Dorothy packed what they could and drove from Lead to Palmer by way of the AlCan Highway. Their adventures were numerous in Alaska. Leo documented their time there with photos and he later shared them with his children, along with the stories that accompanied them, on many an evening. The slide shows invariably included popcorn and Kool-Aid!

After Palmer, Alaska, Leo and Dot, as they would come to be known, moved to Armour, South Dakota, then to the Provo Army Depot near Edgemont, South Dakota and finally to Sturgis, South Dakota where they settled in 1965. Along the way daughters Sharon Ann, Susan Kay and Jane Lynn were added and the family was complete.

Leo spent his life immersed in music. He was a band director for 35 years. He retired from teaching in 1987 but continued in music with a small music store where he and Dot sold music and accessories and rented and sold instruments to students in Sturgis and the surrounding area. Leo's musical abilities included singing and conducting the Methodist Church Choir and participating in barbershop quartets. Additionally, Leo was a co-founder of the Rushmore Music Camp.  In 1997 the South Dakota Music Educators Association (SDMEA) presented Leo with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication to music in all aspects.

Leo and Dot were members of the Sturgis First United Methodist Church. They volunteered for many activities, including cooking for bazaars and the annual Mother-Daughter Banquet. Golf and snow skiing were also great pastimes and they enjoyed long road trips together in retirement.

Leo and Dorothy were blessed with five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Dorothy, six sisters, one brother, his parents Anna and Albert and his stepfather Orel E. Booth.

Inurnment will be Friday, September 9, 2022 at 12:30 pm at Black Hills National Cemetery.  Services will be Monday, September 12, 2022 at 10:30 am at the First United Methodist Church, 629 Kansas City Street, Rapid City, South Dakota.  Lunch will be served following the service. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Northern Hills Community Band in care of Richard and Susan Dittman, 4786 Summerset Drive, Rapid City, South Dakota 57702.