Sure, the Custer area offers some spectacular scenery along with the amenities of country living, but is calling it home worth a 2,000-mile commute to work? Wylleen May thinks so. She works in Los Angeles, California, as the executive in charge of production for television’s American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance series as well as the NAACP Image Awards specials. Born in Rock Rapids, Iowa, some 30 miles from Sioux Falls, Wylleen bought land west of Custer eight years ago and started work on her new home. “After living in southern California for three decades, I wanted to move closer to my family,” she explains. Her family still is hundreds of miles away. Her parents remain in Rock Rapids, and her son, MaCayne, 24, attends John Marshall law school in Chicago. But, Wylleen didn’t want to return to the prairie. She wanted hills in her view.
After looking at home sites in other states, including Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, Wylleen came across the Custer property via the Internet. “I was in New York doing the Essence Awards, a special which honored outstanding citizens, when I saw the ad,” Wylleen recalls. “I got on a plane at about 3 a.m. and flew to Sioux Falls. The next morning I drove out here and looked at the property. I fell in love with it.”
