Virginia Blom

Virginia (Cacek) Blom, age 94, of Yankton, South Dakota died on March 16, 2026.

Interment will be held at 1:30 PM (mountain time) on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at the Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota. Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz & Ray Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Yankton.

Virginia was born in Mitchell, South Dakota and went home to Belvidere, South Dakota where she lived her entire childhood. Virginia graduated from Belvidere High School in 1950. She worked in Belvidere as a telephone operator before moving to St. Paul, MN, to attend nursing school at Mounds Park Hospital & Midway Hospital where she became a Registered Nurse. Right out of school, Virginia was the head nurse in charge of the surgical department at Mounds Park Hospital. She especially enjoyed her time as a surgical nurse.

Pete and Virginia spent most, if not all, their grade school, and high school years in the same class in Belvidere. Virginia tells the story of one incident where Pete sat behind her in 5th grade. He pulled on her pig tails, and she promptly stood up and thumped him on the head with a book! They were married in Watertown, South Dakota on March 14, 1955 in a double ceremony with Pete’s sister, Ilene and Bud Kimball. They lived in St. Paul MN until 1961 and then moved to Kadoka, SD where Virginia was "shamed" (in her words) by Dr. Swisher into accepting an RN position to keep the local hospital staffed and open. After a brief sojourn in Mesa, AZ in 1974-75, Pete and Virginia returned to Kadoka where they owned and operated the Leewood Motel. In a couple years, Pete’s job with GoldenWest required him to move to Wall, SD. As Virginia loved to read, she worked at the Wall Library for several years. She was required by law to be paid at the library, so she specifically drew only the minimum wage, to maximize the funds available for purchasing new books, for which she was also responsible. In 2009, they moved to Yankton, SD. Spending time with family and friends was important to Virginia. She was known for her o'henry bars, holiday decorated brown sugar cookies, wild game feeds and "fish-frys".

Her husband Pete Blom; parents, Adolph and Bella (Morrow) Cacek; and a brother, William “Butch” Cacek, welcomed her at Heaven's door with open arms.

Many hearts are filled with sadness as Virginia leaves behind; three sons, Craig of Rapid City, SD, Gary and his wife, Casey of Yankton; and Tim and his wife, Julie of Waseca, MN; seven grandchildren: Bryan (Sara), Laura, Ben, Josh (Christin), Cole (Sara), Megan (Josh Wright) and Ary; 8 great-grandchildren: Brady, Chloe, Elly, Emelia, Harlan, Gabe, Bella & Sam; one sister, JoAnn Scherer of Australia; nieces: Jenny, Karen, Tanya; nephew, Scott; and a host of other relatives and friends.