Barbara Ann Berens, 74

Barbara Ann Berens passed away on Aug. 3 in Phoenix Az.

Barbara was born on Oct. 29, 1947 in Gregory, SD. to Nicholas and Bernice Berens. She moved to Winner in 1949 when her parents purchased the Five Spot Cafe. Barbara attended St. Mary’s school graduating in 1961. She then attended Winner High School graduating in 1965. She spent many hours during her high school days working at the Five Spot.

Barbara attended St. John’s McNamara School of Nursing in Rapid City, graduating in 1967. After graduation, she moved to Phoenix, AZ to accept a job with St. Joseph’s Hospital. She worked there until her retirement.

Barbara loved dogs and had as many as 5 at one time. She also enjoyed sewing. During the Covid pandemic she spent much time sewing masks.

Barbara was proceeded in death by her parents and her grandparents. She is survived by her brother Richard and his wife Marilyn, and numerous first and second cousins.

Myrna Rae Beauchamp, 86

Funeral services for Myrna Rae Beauchamp will be held Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Burke. Burial will be in the Knoll crest Cemetery in Naper, Neb.

Myrna Rae (Gosch) Beauchamp was born Oct. 15, 1937 in the Burke Hospital to Corneilius and Anna (Ludemann) Gosch. She died Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024 in Bormann Manor, Parkston SD at the age of 86.

She grew up on the family farm west of Naper, NE and attended rural school District #60. She graduated from Naper High School in 1955 and attended Wayne State, earning a 3-month teaching certificate. She taught rural schools for four years in the Boyd County area.

While growing up, the family attended Immanuel Lutheran Church in Jameson NE. She was baptized and confirmed there.

On Aug. 21, 1959 she married Donald Beauchamp and moved to the farm north of Herrick, SD. They later divorced in 1993.

Myrna was a homemaker who enjoyed gardening and canning and freezing what she grew. She loved to work on embroidery projects, often times placing her creations in a wooden hoop. Who could forget receiving one of these creations made specially for them, stitched with love to honor a special occasion in their life? Through the years she held several jobs, including waitressing, cooking at the local hospital, home health care; and her favorite: being a paraprofessional in the Burke School District. She was selected to be homecoming parade marshal the year she retired. This was a great honor for her.

Myrna supported everything in her home communities of Burke, Herrick, and Naper. Attending sporting events of every kind, the Burke Stampede, the Senior Center, volunteering at the Rumage Center, or helping at church kept her busy. If there was something going on in the area, she was probably there. Being involved in the Herrick Legion Auxiliary and Rosebud Rancherettes was truly a passion for her and she was a lifetime member of both organizations.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a special friend Jim Rue; brothers-John and wife Irene Gosch, and Albert Gosch; sisters-Elva and husband Al Nicolaus, Betty and husband Ervin Schochenmaier; nephews, Stanley Nicolaus, and David Gosch and a niece, Mary Lee Podhrasky.

She is survived by her four children; Kristie and husband Terry Leischner and Ralph of Parkston, Neil and wife Laurie of Winner, and Brian of Atlanta, GA. There  are five grandchildren, Michael Leischner, Jenaya Brengle, Darcy Muller , Tyler Beauchamp and Paige Stewart. There are nine great-grandchildren. 

May Myrna be remembered as a woman who loved her Lord, her family and community.

Allen Lee, 73

Allen Lee passed away at home on July 1, 2024 following a quiet, determined battle with cancer.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024 at 2 p.m. at the Hayti Fire Hall. 

Allen was born to Curtis and Leuella Lee on June 18, 1951 at Watertown SD.  He grew up on the family farm near Hayti and attended school in Hayti.  He graduated from Winner High School after the family moved to Winner.

Following graduation, he began his truck driving career and worked road construction for Carlson Construction in Winner.  He returned to farming with his dad near Witten, SD, where he met and married Candy Farris.  They were blessed with a son, James Edward and a daughter, Jessica Lynn.

Allen eventually left farming and returned to full time trucking until he retired back to Hayti.  Not being able to give up driving or farming, Allen drove school bus for Hamlin School District and helped area farmers with field work and harvest until his health started to fail.

Hunting and target shooting were his pastimes and passions.  He spent hours reloading ammunition.  Every day was a good day if he could drive the backroads around Hayti in his side by side.  A day out hunting with a good friend only made life that much better.

Family was important to Allen.  He frequently called to visit and check on family members and friends far and near.  Particularly his kids and grandkids were the focus of attention.  Ensuring they were doing well, safe and loved. 

Allen will be missed and is survived by his son, Jim, Becca, Matthew and Nora; daughter, Jessica, Landon, Eislyn; sisters Deanna(Ken) Schmidt, Debby(Bob) Jensen and  Kim(Doug) Vogt.  He is also survived by a special nephew, Jon (Julie)Schmidt, as well as nieces and nephew, Becky, Jenny, Ben and Kate Schmidt.  Maverick and Wesley, his two beloved fur babies also survive him.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Former owner to receive national newspaper association award

Bill Sniffin, former owner of the Winner Advocate, will  receive the General James O. Amos award at the National Newspaper Association Foundation’s138th annual convention and trade show in Omaha, Neb., Sept. 27.

Sniffin of Lander, Wyo., owned the Winner Advocate for 23 years. He bought the newspaper from Don Johannsen.

The Amos award has been presented annually for the past 86 years to a single publisher. It is presented to a newspaperman who has provided distinguished service and leadership to community press and his community.

 Sniffin was nominated by former U. S. Sen. Al Simpson’s press secretary Stan Cannon and retired publisher Dave Simpson of Cheyenne, Wyo., plus others.

At 78, Sniffin has has a long career in journalism that started when he was 17 writing a weekly column for the local Elgin, Iowa, newspaper—The Echo and was editor of his high school paper.

Sixty-one years in, he is still writing a weekly column for the 73,000 circulation Cowboy State Daily, the dominant media in Wyoming. He was publisher of this daily digital medium from 2020 to 2022.

Sniffin was born in Wadena, Iowa, in 1946. After high school, he attended a journalism short course at Iowa State University. He then became the sports editor in Harlan, Iowa and later sports editor at Denison, Iowa where he attended Midwestern College.

In 1966, he became editor of the Harlan newspapers, winning several national awards.

In 1970, he and his wife, Nancy, moved to Lander, Wyo., where he took over the Lander Wyoming State Journal as editor-publisher.

Over the next 29 years the couple operated the Lander newspaper, founded three other newspapers and purchased a number of other newspapers, plus he had a weekly paper in Maui.

Retired publisher and 2021 Amos award winner Larry Atkinson of Mobridge wrote, “You’d be hard pressed to to find anyone within the National Newspaper Association who has done more to promote community journalism while working tirelessly to contribute to his community, his state and even his nation. His efforts have extended beyond his home state of Wyoming as he has also owned community newspapers and other media related ventures in Montana and South Dakota and Hawaii.”

In his nomination letter, community newspaper advisor  and columnist Ken Blum wrote that Sniffin “has been and still at age 78 an affable, extroverted doer of the first magnitude—a newspaperman and Wyoming lover through and through whose boundless energy, work ethic, high character and considerable talent make for an ideal candidate for the Amos award.”

Colome school opens Aug. 12

Classes in the Colome School District will begin on Aug. 12.

Classes will run Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 3:32 p.m. This is the second year of a four day school week for students in Colome.

The big news is the new addition to the school will be open. This will include some of the middle school, all of the high school and administration offices. It is connected to the elementary school and the gym. The school will now be one unit.

There will be no classes in the old building.

New paraprofessionals this year will be Jen Dougherty, elementary/title, Isabell Thieman, elementary special education, Liz Smith, k-12 special education.

Lori Haukaas will be the elementary special education teacher.

Some elementary teachers will be changing to new grades. Shelby Hrabanek will teach first grade, Katie Richey, second grade and Teresa Lincoln will teach both third and fourth grade.

 Isabell Thieman will be in charge of the After School program. This will run Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to 6 p.m. This is for students kindergarten to fourth grade. The cost is $3 a day or $10 per week.

There will be bussing available to and from Buches Ace Hardware in Winner. The bus will pickup students at the parking lot of Ace Hardware at 7:25 a.m. and after school drop them off around 4 p.m.

New enrollment students are to contact the office at 605-842-1624 to register.

It is estimated the enrollment for this year will be around 145 students K-12.

The teacher in-service will be Aug. 7-8. The welcome back picnic and open house will be held Aug. 8.

This year homecoming is set for Sept. 6.

There will be a new sport available in Colome which has been sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association. It is esports and drone racing.

Esports has been surging in popularity the past decade.

Twenty South Dakota high schools started esports pilot programs for the 2023-2024 season.

This fall will be the first year in South Dakota and it will go into December and January.

Samantha West, K-12 principal, said last year a student survey was taken to see if there would be any interest. She explained about half of the middle school and high school students indicated they would be interested.

The Colome School Board voted to add esports as a new sport to the school.

Teams play against each other virtually in school computer labs in matches coordinated by North Dakota based Fenworks.

This sport will have a state tournament in March.