Arlys Flick Lohmuller, age 99, passed away Sept, 11, 2025 in Aurora, Colo.

She was born June 20, 1926, in Tripp, South Dakota and at the age of four moved to Gaza, Iowa to grow up on the family farm.  Early in life, Arlys showed great interest in classical music, making it the center of her interests and studies. Beginning piano lessons at 8, she practiced hours a day and later reminisced, “I must have driven my mother mad! All that piano!” At 16, her music teacher discovered her clear and pure soprano voice and singing became the major force in her life. After graduating as Valedictorian, she attended Morningside Conservatory of Music in Sioux City and then the University of Colorado at Boulder where she met her husband, Richard (Dick) Lohmuller.

Through the decades that followed, Arlys sang in concerts, symphonies, operas, oratorios, church choirs, and more in six states from Montana to Louisiana. She gave private voice lessons, worked for the Shreveport Symphony, and from 1966-1976, was the music director for the First Presbyterian Church in Great Bend, Kan., where Dick managed the JCPenney store. She volunteered in her community with various charity groups and musical organizations.

With four children, Arlys described herself as “a professional mother and a part-time singer.”

Arlys was preceded in death by her husband, Richard; her son, Richard Scott; and her brother, Burton Flick. She is survived by her children Victoria Vaughn (Ben) of Aurora, Colo., Monica Ochel (Rik) of Broken Arrow, Okla., Kent Lohmuller (Sylvia) of Universal City, Texas; nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, Sept. 20, 2025