Mae Beth Gill, daughter, sister, companion, friend, teacher, and artist left us November 18, 2023 after a valiant battle with cancer.
Mae Beth Klock, was born September 14, 1961 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Later she moved to Sarasota, FL to be closer to her parents. It was there she met and fell in love with Perry Salzmann.
They moved to Spearfish in 1999. Being the first in her family to go to college, she received college degrees in K-12 Education, Special Education and Art, graduating in 2006.
For six years, she worked for the Ann Froelich Summer Youth Theatre, taking great joy in creating something wonderful from odds and ends. Mae never saw a piece of wood or egg carton that she didn’t see as a potential art piece.
Mae taught Special Ed in Newcastle, Gillette and Belle Fourche. Always an artist and art advocate, she used her free time in Belle to have an Art Club and art class for her grade level.
She was multi-talented, experimenting with different mediums such as painting, jewelry, fabrics appliques, and wood assemblages. “Creative people don’t have a mess; they have ideas lying around everywhere!” And that was Mae! Mae, Anita, and Laurie created The Art Nest Gallery in Spearfish 4 ½ years ago, featuring 50+ artists. There are a number of Mae’s artworks in the gallery.
Her sisters say if you need to know who, what, where, just ask Mae; she had a memory like an elephant. Everyone who knew her would agree. She seemed to always need the bathroom when it was time to do the dishes, last one in the car and up from the dinner table.
She is survived by her companion, Perry Salzmann; parents Dan and Joyce Klock, sisters, Patricia (Don) Hicks, Ruth Ann McCargar and Loretta Houtch, a niece, Lucy Mobley, and nephews, Aaron Klock and Christopher Houtch.
Preceding her in death was her little brother, Daniel Klock II.
The family had a private ceremony to honor Mae.
Online condolences may be written at www.fidler-isburgfuneralchapels.com.
