Visitation and wake services for 76-year old Flora “Flo” Young are Wed, Jan 25, 2023 from 2-4:00 at Chamberlain-McColley’s Funeral Home in Hot Springs, SD.
A luncheon will follow at the Hot Springs American Legion.
Flora “Flo” L Young was born Feb 27, 1944, in Igloo, SD, to Catherine (Irving) Young and Duval “Babe” Young. She passed away peacefully at home on January 17, 2023, surrounded by her loving family and her pets.
Flo was the first of four daughters who blessed her parents. She was a natural leader and over the years became the matriarch of her family and a respected elder.
Flo and her sisters – Frances “Tiny” Young, Helen Merrill, and Judy Carroll – were very close growing up and through their adult lives. Family was very important to Flo and she was very protective of her loved ones.
Flo attended schools in Hot Springs, SD, Holy Rosary Mission (1953) and in Newcastle, Wyo.
In 1961, she married Johnny Still, who previously served in The United States Navy but was known for being a singer and pilot. The couple had three children; Tammy, Tim and Tina.
Flo later married Burgess “Jumbo” Ghost in 1970 upon his return from Vietnam and they had two children, Tara and Antoinette Rose.
She worked for the VA, first in Hot Springs in the 1980’s and later in Sturgis at Fort Meade and in Phoenix, AZ.
Flo attended Black Hills State starting in 1988 and majored in Arts and Theater. She was a natural artist and loved to experiment on canvas with bright colors and to create traditional Native American scenes.
Flo had an outgoing personality, and a laugh that could be easily identified anywhere she was.
One of her favorite pastimes was playing bingo. When the number she needed was next up in the monitor – meaning she would win when it was called out – she would get so excited! She would laugh and shake her hands back and forth, the whole table would celebrate a win when Flo got to yell bingo.
She was a very hard worker and was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. When she worked at the Phoenix VA, she became the first female host – “Hostess with the Mostest” she would say.
Flo retired from the Phoenix VA in 2002 and returned to her hometown, Hot Springs. In retirement, she loved to spend time with her dogs Irish, Tootsie 2, Lucky, and Xena. She also loved her bird Tweety and over the years had many Tweetys and Peteys.
Flora was preceded in death by her mother Catherine Irving-Young; father Duval “babe” Young; sister Helen Carroll; daughter Antoinette Rose Ghost; great-grandson Prince Richard; and her loving dog’s Irish and Tootsie 1.
Flora is survived by her younger sisters Frances “Tiny” Young (Edgemont, SD) and Judy Young-Carroll (Sabetha, KS); her four children Tamara “Tammy” Elliot (Oregon), Timothy “Tim” Still (Hot Springs), Christina “Tina” Still (Hot Springs), and Tara Ghost (Oral); 15 grandchildren Adam, Rhiannon, Steven, Rachelle, Tessa, Lydia, Christine, Christopher, Nathaniel, Brian, Mercedes, Antoinette, Dwight, Joshua, and Lynsey; 26 great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Arrangements entrusted with Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge, SD