The first woman in South Dakota to serve as county and circuit court judge has passed away. Former Judge Mildred Ramynke died Saturday at age 96, and many considered her a trailblazer for women in South Dakota.
In 1958 Ramynke became the first woman to serve as a county judge in the state. When a change to the Constitution created the unified judicial system in 1975 she was elected as the first woman to serve as a circuit judge in South Dakota.
Tony Venhuizen is the director of policy and communications for the governor’s office.
"She was elected one of the, well actually the first circuit judge in South Dakota to be a woman," says Venhuizen. "She served that northeast part of the state up by Peever, the Sisseton area for decades as a judge and was widely respected by the lawyers who worked for her, or worked with her I guess, as being always very fair and very courteous and willing to take the time to consider the case and reach a just result."
Venhuizen says Ramynke was one of the first women to attend the University of South Dakota School of Law. He says Ramynke was also a veteran of World War Two where she trained men to be fighter pilots in the war zone.
Governor Daugaard has ordered the flags at the Capitol to fly half-staff on Monday in honor of Ramynke’s funeral.