Thomas "Tom" F. Arnold

Tom Arnold dies at 88

Funeral service was held February 12 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church at Valentine, Neb., for Thomas F. Arnold, 88, who died February 9 in the Cherry County Hospital at Valentine.

He was born November 9, 1886 in Lusk to Mr. and Mrs. Ed Arnold, Niobrara Pioneers. He started ranching at Lusk, moving to Scenic, S. D. in 1922, then to the Churn ranch near Merriam, Neb., and in 1929 went to Todd County, S. D.

He was preceded in death by his wife Katherine Marshall Arnold whom he married in Atlantic, Iowa, in 1909. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in June of 1969 and she died in December of that year.

The Arnolds made their home in Valentine after 1938 commuting to their ranching interests in Cherry and Todd counties.

Mr. Arnold was active in the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association and helped draft the Sandhills Feeder Cattle Producers Association, which is now the Sandhills Cattle Association. For ten years he was chairman of the South Dakota Livestock Sanitary Board and served the American National Cattleman's Association as chairman of the sanitary committee, second vice president and as member of the executive committee from 1950 through 1957.

He installed pivot irrigation systems at his ranches early, as well as pioneering the use of artificial insemination. Mr. Arnold also worked to promote control and eradication of brucellosis and was a member of the National Brucellosis committee.

In 1974 he was one of 29 chosen for Stockman of the Century Honors by the Record Stockman of Denver.

Survivors are a son Edward M. Arnold of Valentine; two daughters Mrs. Elvin J. (Rosamond) Ternus, Omaha, and Mrs. James C. (Mullen), Valentine; two sisters Mrs. George (Ethel) Gibson and Mrs. Robert (Lillian) Vinson, both of Denver; one half-brother Clyde Conors, Murphy, N. C.; 19 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren.

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