Clair Husby, age 79, of Arlington, SD, passed away on Saturday, April 3, 2021, in Fargo, ND.  Visitation will be on Thursday, April 8, 2021, from 5-7 P.M. at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings.  Following cremation, a memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 10, 2021, at 1:00 P.M. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Arlington with burial to follow at West Sinai Lutheran Cemetery.  Eidsness Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.  Face masks are required at the funeral home for visitation. The funeral will be live-streamed on Trinity Lutheran's Facebook Page.

Clair D. Husby was born on July 22, 1941, at the Volga Hospital, Volga, South Dakota, the youngest son of Hans O. and Edith (Dybdahl) Husby.

Clair attended a one room school, Oslo District 95 for five and one-half years.  He moved with his parents to Brookings, South Dakota, in March, 1953.  Clair completed his elementary school and high school years in Brookings, graduating from high school in 1959.  He then attended SDSU for two quarters, and left with a friend for Southern California.  He worked as a special equipment operator at Hyland Laboratories from March 1960 to August 1961.  With maturity in the real world, he returned to Brookings and completed his studies in Commercial Economics at SDSU, in 1965.

Clair enlisted in the US Navy on November 2, 1965.  With duty stations that included Great Lakes Recruit Training Center in Waukegan, Illinois, Communication Technician School in Pensacola, Florida, Naval Communications Station in Guam, and finally at the Naval Security Group in Kami Seya, Japan.  Clair was separated from active duty on October 13, 1969, and was honorably discharged on November 1, 1971.

After military service, Clair worked as a Customer Service Representative for the Reynold and Reynolds Co from December, 1969 to April, 1985, working in the Los Angeles, California, Dayton, Ohio, and the Chicago, Illinois facilities.

Wanting to fulfill a dream since high school of working in the accounting profession, he used his GI Bill of Rights for education and attended Woodbury College in Los Angeles, and Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago during evenings.  He was awarded a Master of Business Administration degree in 1979 from Keller Graduate School of Management.  He also passed the Certified Public Accounting exam in 1986.

In April, 1985, he began a career in Federal Service as Field Accountant for Rural Electrification Administration (REA) that was later renamed the Rural Utility Service (RUS).  After training in Washington D.C., he was assigned to projects in the state of Nebraska.  He resided at Columbus, Nebraska and worked out of his home.  This relocation brought him closer to Brookings, and he spent many weekends attending SDSU athletic events.  He retired from the Federal Service on January 1, 2004.  He then relocated to Arlington, South Dakota in August, 2005.

In 2000, Clair met the love of his life via the internet, Edel Johnson, of Alice, North Dakota, and gained a family.  Her background of being an immigrant from Norway was one of many attractions.  Clair, having great-grandparents, grandparents, and a father who immigrated from Norway, had great interest in Norway.  Two trips to Norway were made in 2014 and 2015, where Clair and Edel visited the Nordland and Trondalag areas.  During these visits, he met first and second cousins.  He also visited the island of Leka, where his father left from in 1910.  Those were very fulfilling memories.

Clair's interests included reading Norwegian-America history.  He also was a great SDSU fan and attended many basketball and football games.  Clair was a huge fan of attending his adopted grandchildren and great-grandchildren's events, from basketball, hockey, dance, and even rodeo.  In his retirement, he became a daily watcher of The Young and The Restless, and kept himself informed by watching the news.

He was a life member of Norwegian American History Association, a member of America Legion, and the Sons of Norway.

He is survived by his significant other, Edel Johnson and his adopted children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; sister, Donna Lange, of Sioux Falls, SD; sister-in-law Mylis Husby; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Hans and Edith; sisters: Mavis, Lorraine, Evelyn, Joyce, and infant Alice Diane; and his brothers: Harold, Jewel, and Roger.