A Day of Remembrance Memorializes Former South Dakota Governor George S. Mickelson

Many South Dakotan's were glued to their radios and televisions 25 years ago when the news came out that our Governor had been died.

The 28th Governor of South Dakota George S. Mickelson and the seven other individuals lost their lives in a state plane crash on April 19, 1993.

Governor Dennis Daugaard has declared today as a day of remembrance to memorialize Mickelson.

“I hope South Dakotan's will pause for a moment to give thanks for the lives of these eight extraordinary men. Let’s strive to honor them by continuing the work they began,” said Daugaard.

On that day in 1993 Governor Mickelson was returning from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he had been meeting with the owners of the John Morrell packing plant. The plane crashed near Dubuque, Iowa. In addition to Governor Mickelson the crash took the lives of Angus Anson of Northern States Power, Dave Birkeland of First Bank of South Dakota, Roland Dolly of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Roger Hainje of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, Ron Reed of the state Office of Energy Policy, and state pilots Ron Becker and Dave Hansen.

For the day of remembrance Daugaard asks that flags remain at half-staff to honor the plane crash victims.

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