BROOKINGS — Matthew Dale Stulken, 28, passed away Thursday, February 9, 2023, at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls with his mom and Uncle Mike at his side.

Celebration of His Life will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday at Rude’s Funeral Home in Brookings. His service will be livestreamed and can be found at www.rudesfuneralhome.com. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Rude’s Funeral Home.

Matt was born on May 8, 1994, to Dean and Martie (Rodman) Stulken in Pierre.
He attended school in Pierre and graduated from Pierre Riggs High School in 2012. During that time, he treasured three of his life-long loves, music and theater both of which drew him to gaming. He performed in Capitol City Children’s Chorus, numerous Pierre Players performances, high school plays, chorus, band and drumline. He often sang or played the solos in church at Pierre First Methodist Church where he was a member. He also discovered a love of teaching during that time as a YMCA swim instructor and often talked with pride about his students’ accomplishments. During this time, his brother nurtured his adventurous side by developing his love of scuba diving and spearfishing.

He attended college at SDSU but soon decided to take life in a different direction. He worked at Walmart for a few years and then with RGIS Inventory Specialists where he discovered a love of the geography of the 4-state area they served. While he was driving for RGIS, he began listening to podcasts of pilots and surprised his friends and family by announcing he wanted to return to SDSU for aviation. His dream was fly internationally so he could see the world and then become an airline accident investigator for the NTSB.

While attending SDSU for aviation, he worked as a part-time ARC for the Brookings Post Office.  There he was able to utilized his love of teaching by being a trainer and he loved learning all the geography of Brookings County.

In his years since high school, his group of friends were his family and despite scattering they always stayed together through gaming and Discord and the group expanded with D&D friends. He was proud of establishing a table-top gaming club at SDSU.

In April 2022, he began a valiant battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Through that battle he was again a teacher to all of us with his courage, determination and grace. During this fight, he developed many new friendships that he cherished. He loved regaling Uncle Mike, Uncle Greg and Troy with his humorous medical updates. Throughout this battle, he insisted on having his computer so he could be with his friends and focus on fun and camaraderie.

Welcoming him in the afterlife are his dad and his grandparents, Blair and Verna Rodman.

He is survived by his mom of Aurora; his brother and sister-in-law, Troy and Kari Stulken; his Uncle Mike and Auntie Nor, Emily and Zach (Roni) Rodman, Uncle Greg and Auntie Deb, Taryn and Blake Rodman; his nieces, Kimberly (Rebecca) Burken, Mackenzie (Jeremy) Morgan, Megan (Davey) Knoll, and Molly Stulken; and his nephews, Tim (Cassie) Dean, Mic (Nicole) Stulken, and Stephon “Sam” (Mckaylee) Stulken; many other relatives, plus his eternal best buddy, Ike Schumacher, as well as his circle of friends.

Matt has requested donations be made to one of the following organizations in lieu of flowers: 1. Hope for Paws, 8950 W Olympic Blvd, Beverly Hills, Calif. 90211 or hopeforpaws.org. 2. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,  www.lls.org. 3. Feisty Fighters of Sioux Falls, feistyfighters.org.

Condolences may be sent to the family through www.rudesfuneralhome.com.