Monthly Archives: October 2019

Mary Jane (Legge) Devish Kaplan of Winner, South Dakota passed away on Oct. 8, 2019 at Winner Regional Long Term Care at the age of 95.

Mary Jane requested no formal funeral service, however, there was a graveside service and burial at the Winner City Cemetery on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019 at 2 p.m.

Mary Jane Legge Devish Kaplan was born on Nov. 23, 1923 to George Custer and Amelia (Horak) Legge at their homestead west of Clearfield, South Dakota.

She attended Dorian Meadows School which is now at the Winner Historical Society. She road the train to North Bend, Nebraska for her first year of high school, then attended two years of high school at Beaver Creek and graduated from Winner High School in 1941 as a member of the National Honor Society. She then went to Southern State Normal School in Springfield, South Dakota and ended up teaching at Dorian Meadows and South Longview.

After her brothers went to the service, she helped out on the family farm.

On Feb. 7, 1948, she married Johnny Devish. They managed the pool hall in Clearfield and later moved to Winner. Mary Jane worked at Gibson’s, the Lee Store, Miller Bros and W.H. Sturges Co.

Johnny passed away in 1996. She later married Darrel Kaplan and they divorced.

She lived in her home in Winner until 2012 when she moved to the Golden Prairie Manor.

Mary Jane was a fun loving lady and had an infectious laugh. She enjoyed trips to the casino, “several” competitive games of pitch and visiting with everyone. She had a kind heart and will be missed by many.

She is survived by her sister-in-law, Margaret Legge, and numerous nieces, nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, George and Amelia, husbands, Johnny and Darrel, brothers, Gerald, George, Kenneth, Judson, Harry, SD “Buck” and Robert, and three sisters, Thelma Vosika, Ruth Zibell and Irene Stillwell.

Maxine Klein, age 98, of Winner, SD passed away on Saturday Oct. 5, 2019 at the Winner Regional Long-Term Care Center in Winner.

Funeral services were held on Monday Oct. 14, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. at the Church of Nazarene in Winner. Burial followed in the Winner City Cemetery.

Visitation was held on Sunday Oct.13, 2019 from 5-7 p.m. at the Mason Funeral Home in Winner.

Maxine Marvel (Mann) Klein was born on a rainy April 5, 1921 to George and Myrtle (Patterson) Mann. She joined three older sisters. She was delivered by Dr. James Quinn in a farmhouse nine miles north of Colome.

At the age of five, she moved with her family to a farm south and west of Millboro. Here, she spent her childhood days. She attended Shadley Valley Grade School for her elementary years. For ninth grade, Maxine went to another country school called Beaver Creek. When that school didn’t have high school any more, she finished high school at Millboro High School. Here, school was held in the community church. Maxine graduated there in 1940 with a class of eight students.

Deciding to become a teacher, she went to college at Southern State Normal School at Springfield, South Dakota. She attended for one year and earned a teaching certificate. For the next three years, she taught in rural schools around Winner.

Maxine met the love of her life, Conrad, while boarding at his sister’s. After a four year courtship, they were married. The young couple lived with his mother for a few years and farmed until Conrad’s mother died and the homestead was sold. They continued to farm around Burke for a few more years. They moved to Tripp County in 1951. By this time, they were blessed with three children, David, Joan, and Dale. For the next fifteen years, they farmed around Winner. Their family had grown to six. Janice, Debby, and Susan had joined the Klein crew.

They moved into Winner, and Maxine went back to teaching. She taught in Tripp County for the next 21 years. In 1976 Maxine earned her bachelor of science degree from Vermillion and taught 10 more years.

After retiring from teaching, Maxine started making patchwork quilts. Her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren all have one or more of the quilts she made. She also started doing some volunteer work at her church and at the nursing home.

Maxine touched the lives of many youngsters during her teaching years. She loved teaching. She especially loved getting the programs ready for the students to perform for their parents. During her retired life, it gave her great pleasure to meet up with her students and to stop and visit with them to find out how they were doing and just remember the good days in the classroom.

Tragedy struck the family in 1979 when Conrad suffered a crippling stroke which left him completely helpless. For the next six years, he was confined to a nursing home. Maxine spent many hours visiting him while he was there.

Susan and her four children came home to live with Maxine after Conrad’s stroke. They lived with her for the next six years. Grandma Maxine watched over Susan’s brood while Sue went to college and got her bachelor’s degree in teaching, following in her mom’s footsteps. The family lost Susan in 1988. She had ovarian cancer and died from a blood clot while in St. Luke’s Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota.

Maxine loved life and enjoyed volunteering and playing cards and drinking coffee with friends, but family was always first. She really enjoyed organizing family reunions and gathering her group together every year or so. It was a passion with her. She also loved her Lord and prayed for her family every day and sometimes several times a day.

Maxine said, “I have had a great life. I had a loving husband and six great kids. What more could I have asked for? I have seen a lot of changes in my lifetime. I lived when cars were a rarity and telephones were just a luxury. I was born out in the country where Dr. Quinn made house calls to deliver babies. I walked a mile and a half to school with my siblings. We walked during the Dirty Thirties when we all took a hold of hands and followed the fence line so we wouldn’t get lost because you really couldn’t see your hand in front of you because of the dust. The wind was blowing so hard you couldn’t stand up. I lived through the Great Depression and two wars. Yes, I have had a good life.”

Leaving this old world before her were her parents, her husband Conrad, her daughter Susie, great granddaughter Ama, sisters Isabel, Lela, Percy, Dorothy, Twila, and brother Bud.

Maxine is survived by her children–David (Linda) Klein of Pierre, SD; Jo (Jack) Dooley of Oacoma, SD; Dale (Penny) Klein of Arizona City, AZ; Jan Klein of Zumbrota, MN; Debby (Rick) Bice of Ideal, SD–15 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, 5 great-great-grandchildren, her sister Dolores Soles of Winner, SD, and many nieces and nephews.

Marlene Lovell passed away on Sept. 29. She was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease for the last 10 years of her life.

Born in Colome on Aug. 17, 1938, she was the fourth child born to Charles and Leona Lovell.

Marlene had a remarkable life accomplishing many things. After graduating from Smithland,Iowa, high school, she worked for Mutual of Omaha for several years. She then moved to Denver and joined United Airlines as a stewardess.

Her roommate in stewardess school was Dottie Lamm who later became the wife of the governor of Colorado.

Marlene married John F. Benolken of Omaha, Neb. and they had a son, John. Marlene and her husband were divorced in 1965.

Marlene then moved back to Denver and attended the University of Colorado. She graduated with a B.S. degree in English education.

While attending CU, she worked in the remake of Stagecoach as a stand-in for Stephanie Powers.

She made friends with one of the stars, Bing Crosby because her former father in law had been his roommate at Gonzaga.

Marlene also worked as a John Robert Powers model while attending CU. She then attended Denver University and earned a master’s degree in library science. She worked for Cherry Creek schools for 20 years as a librarian and media specialist retiring in 1991.

In 1991, she moved to Green Valley. After a year, Marlene returned to teaching at the Tucson Unified School District. She taught at Sahuaro and Santa Rita high schools for five years. She retired again in 1998.

Marlene loved to travel. She took her father to England in 1981 where they discovered a long lost cousin Percy Lovell in Wedmore.

Marlene and her husband Cal traveled all over the world to more than 60 countries. Marlene’s favorite country, of course, was England, the home of her ancestors. Her great grandfather was born in Wedmore.

A member of the DAR, Marlene was also an avid genealogist and was registered with the National Genealogical Society. She wrote a book about her family in 2001. She had been compiling research for over 25 years.

She was active in the Green Valley Genealogical Society and was on the board of the Joyner-Green Valley Library. She was also a member of the Green Valley Country Club for more than 25 years.

She is survived by her husband, Cal Kemp and her son John F. Benolken II. She is also survived by her sister, Delores Kay Biggerstaff (Don) and their four children, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She is also survived by sister, Gae McDonald (Jim).

Her brothers Skip, Buzz and John preceded her in death. Skip also had Alzheimer’s.

She is also survived by a cousin Chuck McLinn (Doris).

Should you wish to honor Marlene’s memory, make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association, P. O. Box 96011, Washington, D.C. 20090-6011.

Alvin Kalenda, 84 of Winner, SD passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 at the Elder Inn in Winner, SD.

Funeral service were held on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 at 2 p.m. at the Winner United Methodist Church. Burial followed in the Winner City Cemetery.

Alvin Kalenda was born to Joe and Alice (Vrbsky) Kalenda in rural Tripp County, SD on Oct. 28, 1934, the fifth of eight children. He attended Vobr grade school and worked on the family farm.

He joined the National Guard in the late 1950’s. Alvin was at Fort Riley, KS, for the Berlin Crisis from 1962 to 1963 with a medical unit. Upon his return from Kansas, Alvin continued to work on the family farm and served in the National Guard for a total of six years.

He met Jackie Hanson and they were married in 1964. To this union three children were born: RaeMalea Kalenda of Valentine, NE; Kaylyn (Dustin) Wright of Bellevue, NE; and Denice (Troy) Gehling of Grand Meadow, MN.

Farming was Alvin’s passion and he loved his animals and working in the fields. He enjoyed a good game of pitch and could not stay off the dance floor, especially when a good polka was being played.

He is survived by his daughters RaeMalea, Kaylyn, and Denice and many other family members.

Alvin is preceded in death by his wife Jackie; parents Joe and Alice; brothers Joey, Robert, and Stanley Sr.; sisters Evelyn, Nettie, Rose and Marie along with several other family members.