Mickey Schlecht

Mickey Schlecht is a vibrant, active lady who happens to be 80 years young! She truly believes a birthday is just a date. She lives by the words of the classic song by Willie Nelson which states, “You’re only as old you feel!”

Mickey was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Cleveland Heights where there were many steel mills. Mickey spent many summers with her grandparents on the shores of Lake Erie where she boated, threw rocks, swam, and rode bike. It was those summers playing outside that instilled a lifetime love of the outdoors for her. She recalls that she was about six years old during World War II and can remember the streetcars, gas rationing, and milk being delivered to her door in glass bottles. There was no television in her house until she was about 10 years old. Her childhood was a happy one though. She was taught to be grammatically correct and adhere to strict table manners.

Throughout high school, Mickey was quite active. She acted in several plays, played basketball, and always stuck to what she committed to. She is a firm believer that you must have a variety of academics, athletics, and fine arts to be a well-round individual. She graduated with a class of 250 at the age of 16 and began college the next year, even though she feels she wasn’t mature enough to have gone at that time. Mickey worked for a telephone company during college. Her choices in that day and age were limited as to what she could choose for a profession. Women usually became teachers, nurses, or secretaries. She ended up graduating from Colorado State with a degree in business. Following college, she worked as a waitress and was also a social worker for a time.

Mickey met her husband and lifelong companion, Vernon, and they have been happily married ever since. Up until her marriage, Mickey had never owned or driven a car. During their early years of marriage, Mickey and Vernon moved a lot. Vernon was in the Navy and attended Officer Candidate School. The couple lived in Newport, Rhode Island, Norfolk, Virginia, Long Beach, California, and even lived in a Quonset in San Francisco, California during his time in the service. Vernon was eventually drafted for the Vietnam War.

After Vernon retired from the Navy, the couple moved back to South Dakota to help out on the family farm in Martin, SD. They harvested wheat. They moved to Rapid City for 11 years and eventually moved to a ranch outside of Custer State Park. Mickey was certainly a city girl turned country as she quickly learned how to pull and chase calves. She became the secretary at Custer Elementary at a time when everything was hand-delivered. There were no phones or computers.

Mickey had three children. Her son, Jim, is a rancher. She also has two daughters, Becky and Steph. Becky is married with three children and is a teacher. Steph is married, has two children, and is the athletic director here at Custer High School. Mickey considers one of her greatest accomplishments to be raising her three children to be responsible adults.

Mickey is active in her church at Custer Lutheran Fellowship. She enjoys quilting, knitting, and cross-stitching. To this day, she makes time in her daily schedule for a walk outdoors to maintain her healthy lifestyle. Her goal in life has always been to stay active and she has proven that daily exercise helped her to achieve that goal. Mickey also enjoys basketball games and can be found cheering on the Custer Wildcats or watching college basketball in her spare time.

When asked to give a piece of advice, Mickey didn’t hesitate when she said, “Live your life to the fullest. You can be happy living anywhere, if you choose to be. Get out, try new things, get acquainted, and make the best of everything. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”