Maylou Stanforth

Maylou's service will be livestreamed by Trinity Lutheran Church. The link is below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A120zC9l3Q&pp=ygUhdHJpbml0eSBsdXRoZXJhbiBjaHVyY2ggcGxhdHRlIHNk
Maylou Joyce Stanforth was born to Win and Marie (Holter) Serven on May 26, 1922, in Platte, SD. She passed away on November 21, 2023, at the age of 101 at the Platte Care Center. She was the last surviving grandchild of Norwegian immigrants Lars and Joraand Holter who homesteaded two miles west and two miles south of Platte in 1882.
When she was born her parents were running the Greasy Spoon café where her dad would put her in her basket on top of the pop cases. Within a year her parents opened the Win Serven Hotel and Café. "The Hotel" was to be home for a large portion of Maylou's life. With her mom in the kitchen and her Dad running the operation, young Maylou enjoyed meeting all of the customers and was soon working as a waitress. At the age of 6, her parents bought her a baby grand piano. She played that piano for the next 93 years before she found it a new loving home.
Her biggest adventure as a child was a road trip from South Dakota to California at the age of 5 with her parents in a blue Packard car. She loved Saturday nights on Main Street with the band playing and the extended family coming to town and stopping by the Hotel. As a youth Maylou enjoyed swimming at Lake Platte with her friends where their moms often cooked breakfast for them. She swam across Platte Lake, which most of her children also had the pleasure of doing.
Maylou thoroughly enjoyed school and always wanted to be a teacher. She petitioned the School Board to start school a year early but was denied due to overcrowding. She played marimba in the band, sang in the chorus, accompanied soloists on the piano, and was a member of the debate team. They finished 2nd in State and she debated (and defeated) future Senator and Presidential Candidate George McGovern. Maylou was Miss Platte High and salutatorian of her graduating class.
Her next stop was Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois where in 1944 she graduated with a major in Speech and a minor in Music. She was selected for the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the oldest academic honor society in the U.S., and Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. Her college activities and accomplishments were numerous and reflect who she was as a person. She was a member of the choir, band (playing base drum in the marching band made her black and blue from neck to knees), French Club, Knox Union, Theatre Group, Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Alpha Iota (a national music sorority where she served as Chaplain her sophomore year and President her Senior year), and editorial staff of the school yearbook. She was chosen to be part of the Commission, Mortar Board, Student Council, and was Senior Class President. While at Knox she went on a blind date with handsome classmate Bill Stanforth. They dated until he went off to the Marines and the Pacific Theatre in WW II.
After graduation, Maylou taught high school English in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park High School from 1944-1946. The one day she didn't wear heels to work she got in trouble with the hall monitor who wanted to know why she didn't have her student hall pass.
On June 14, 1946, Maylou married Bill Stanforth. From 1946-1948 Bill finished his war-interrupted degree at Knox and Maylou worked as secretary in the Music Department. In 1948 they headed to LaHarpe, Illinois where Bill taught and coached. Maylou was busy hosting team dinners, serving as FHA Chapter mother, and having the first three of eight children, Steve, Mark, and Todd. In 1952 the family moved to Platte and in 1954/55 Maylou was back living in "The Hotel" where the family resided until 1979 when Maylou's mother, Marie, sold the hotel and retired at the age of 93.
Initially, to help feed a family of eight young ones, Maylou sold World Book Encyclopedias. Once the children were old enough she went back to one of her true loves, teaching, first part time and then full time, retiring in 1983. After retiring from teaching Bill and Maylou enjoyed traveling to see their children who were spread across the country. Maylou also continued to enjoy music, reading, golf, and attending sports events (she attended her last South Dakota regional track meet in 2022 less than a month shy of her 100th birthday.)
Maylou's life was marked by a love for and service to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, her family, her community, and people. She served as a librarian and on the Library Board for many, many years until retiring at the age of 90. She was a member of and leader in Coffee Break, Gideons International, Platte Women's Club, and Trinity Lutheran Church. She was the pianist for an untold number of weddings, funerals, and band and vocal solos. As a member of Trinity, among other things, Maylou taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, was an organist for close to 70 years (finally retiring at the age of 95) and was a faithful member of the weekly prayer team even at the age of 100. Her words to all of those who knew her and that she loved so much are: "the secret to a good life is in the assurance of God's love" and "try not to mourn my passing, but rather rejoice my living."
Maylou is survived by all eight of her children: Steve, Mitchell SD; Mark (Pat), Colorado Springs, CO; Todd (Mary), Platte, SD; Doug (Trish), Blairsville, GA; Phil (Dixie), Austin, TX; Kay (Lynn Qualm), Madisonville, TX; Jay (George Itule), Tucson, AZ; and Jan (Tom Nachtigal), Laramie, WY. She is also survived by 21 grandchildren, 29 great grandchildren, and 6 great-great grandchildren.
Maylou was preceded in death by her husband, parents, her sister Joan, and one grandchild.
In lieu of flowers, memorials in Maylou's honor may be directed to: Trinity Lutheran Church, 500 S. Pennsylvania Ave; Gideons International, PO Box 223; Platte Public Library, 310 S Main Street; or Camp New Hope, PO Box 52, all in Platte, SD 57369.
Funeral services for Maylou Stanforth, age 101, of Platte, SD, will be held on Saturday November 25, 2023, at 2 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church in Platte, SD. Private family burial in the Platte City Cemetery will take place before the funeral service. There is a Prayer Service at 7 pm on Friday night at Mount-Smith Funeral Home with a visitation from 5-7pm.