Arliss E. Moreland, 96

Arliss Moreland passed away November 17, 2023 at Hays Nursing and Rehab Center in San Marcos, TX. Graveside rites will be held on May 25, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. MST at Tuthill Cemetery, Tuthill, SD, followed by a fellowship meal and sharing at the Tuthill Fire Hall.

Arliss Magdaline Emley DeKay Moreland was born August 29, 1927, to Ray Hamilton Emley and Lillian Ruth (Nielsen) Emley in Martin, SD. She was the seventh of Ray’s eight children and Ray and Lillian’s fifth child. Arliss graduated from Bennett County High School in 1944. She taught in Bennett County schools through the first year of her marriage, and again from 1964 to 1989. Arliss married Wendell Ike DeKay on December 24, 1950 at Lindsey Memorial Presbyterian Church in Martin, SD. Their children are Patricia, DeAnn, Richard, Bryan, and Sara. The DeKay’s purchased a farm/ranch south of Tuthill in 1959 and acreage near Long Valley in the 1970s.

Arliss graduated in summer 1969, with a B.S. in Elementary Education and Music Education from Chadron State College.

Wendell passed away in August 1993. Arliss continued to farm/ ranch with Richard’s assistance. Arliss nurtured a spirit-filled Christian faith, and was a longtime member of Community Tuthill Presbyterian Church in Tuthill, SD.

Arliss married Robert Jennings Moreland of Merriman, October 2, 2007. Following Bob’s 2014 death, Arliss moved to Pierre, SD with DeAnn and Merlyn Hilmoe. In December 2018, Arliss and Sara moved to San Marcos, TX, to the same complex where Patricia resides, and where Bryan and Katina DeKay live nearby.

Arliss was predeceased by husbands, Wendell DeKay and Robert Moreland; parents, Ray and Lillian Nielsen Emley; stepmother, Ethel Hinzman Emley; mother-in-law, ‘Tillie’ Vesely Spear; half brothers and sister and spouses, Joseph O. and Ann Emley, Maurice and Berniece Emley, and Ruth and Ed Drobny; sisters and brothers and spouses, Leah and Joseph Malambri, John and Opal Emley, Charles and Virginia Emley, and Marion and Gene Oliva; brothers and sisters-in-law, Marvin and Darleen DeKay, Mike and DeLores Kment, and Hester Emley; stepson, Steve Moreland and many other Emley, Thomsen, Nielsen, Vesely, Brown, and DeKay relatives.

Arliss is survived by her children, Patricia Harrington, San Marcos, TX; DeAnn and Merlyn Hilmoe, Pierre, SD; Richard and Vicky Stoeser DeKay, Tuthill, SD; Bryan and Katina Rodolph DeKay, St. Hedwig, TX; and Sara d’Quaix; and her daughter-in-law, Carol Moreland, step-children, Sybil Moreland, Nancy, and Sean Vineyard, and grandchildren Lynnette, and Bryan Hoose (Jack and Colin Selfslaghs), Gordon and Esperanza Meis (Samantha Perez and Matt Jacquez, Glen Rhodes Meis), Albert Steffen, Slater DeKay (Kolter and Kamdyn), Samantha DeKay, Vince Steffen, Natalie DeKay, Nickolaus and Christy DeKay (TJ and Emily Bolton, Rosalie and Sebastian), Amanda and Jeff Hale (Justen, Jessie and Emma Hale), Taylor and Chasidy Christensen (Alyscia and Lander), Myles and Cheyenne Christensen (Wheatlon, Kaycee and Ammon), Owen Christensen (Hunter), Madison Craig, and Eme’Lee Craig; and also step-grandchildren Will and Desiree Moreland (Fiora, Finnegan, and George), Brock and Chelsie Moreland (Holden, Rowan and Hugh), Tori and Donny Scantling (Cedar and JD), Stacey Vineyard (Maddie, Aubre, and Blayke Jasnoch), and Tiffany and Thomas Stokely (Olivia, Amelia and Eleanor); great-great-grandchildren Ariana and Camila Jacquez, and Dylynn Tiler; and many well-loved nieces, nephews and friends.