Marlene Kay (Gerdes) Kerner, 71, of Burke, SD passed away on July 18, 2023 in Burke, SD.
She was born on April 27, 1952 to John and Darline (Powers) Gerdes in Mitchell, SD.
Growing up, Marlene’s family moved around a lot because of her dad’s work as a truck driver for a construction company. The family would set up camp at each new road construction site and Marlene and her siblings would attend the local schools near the construction camps. Marlene often talked about how she didn’t mind the moving, except for when they attended a small school where her and her little brother (only 13 months younger than her) were in the same class.
Marlene didn’t say her first words until she was 2.5 years old and then suddenly one day as she was looking out the window, she said “there goes my daddy in his truck.” As her mother and everyone who knew her said, “and she hasn’t stopped talking since.” Marlene was known for being a “talker.” She never met a stranger she didn’t like and could carry on a conversation with anyone. Once on a family vacation to Six Flags, Marlene struck up a conversation with her roller coaster seatmate and afterwards commented that the young man wasn’t much of a conversationalist. That evening at the hotel pool, she was surprised to see his face on a souvenir t-shirt. Marlene said to the young lady wearing the t-shirt, “I was just on a roller coaster with that kid today.” The young lady, exclaimed, “you were on a roller coaster with NSYNC!”
Her mother, Darline Gerdes, ran a bakery out of her home and Marlene was her mom’s right hand baking assistant, instilling a love for baking that she kept throughout her life. She happily volunteered to deliver long johns to local customers for a quarter tip, so she could go to Mrs. Lunn’s candy store to buy nickel black cherry soda and penny candy.
In 1960, her family made their permanent home in Kimball, SD where Marlene graduated from Kimball High School in 1970. During high school and college, she worked as a waitress at Chef Rudy’s Café at Skelly’s Midway Truck-Stop in Kimball, SD to pay her way through college. After high school, she attended the University of South Dakota in Springfield majoring in elementary education and student teaching at the Chamberlain Indian school, planning to be a spinster schoolteacher.
However, that all changed in 1973, while at a rodeo dance in Chamberlain, SD. Her friend Judene Holan asked her to hold her drink so she could go out on the dance floor. Not thrilled to be standing next to the bar alone holding two drinks, Marlene agreed. That gave the otherwise introverted Richard Kerner who was in Chamberlain for guard duty, the chance he needed. He walked up to Marlene and said, “do you always drink two fisted?” That was the beginning of 49 years together and Richard and Marlene where married 9 months later on May 10, 1974 in the same church were Marlene’s parents were married, Saint Margaret’s Catholic Church in Kimball, SD.
The two built their life together on a ranch south of Burke where they lived and raised their three children, Steve, Anna and David until moving to town in 2009. On the ranch, Marlene was known for her delicious cooking which usually included some variation of home raised beef and potatoes. Marlene made sure that anyone who visited or worked on the ranch, never went hungry. She was constantly cooking whether it was bacon and eggs for breakfast or lunches for moving cattle and taking to the field. She always had a large garden and canned the best beets and dill pickles. There was always boiling coffee on the stove, even though she was never a coffee drinker herself.
Much to Richard’s chagrin, she decorated the house for each holiday, especially Christmas and always made sure everyone got a present.
Marlene was known for her pumpkin, cherry, apple and rhubarb pies which she brought to every family holiday gathering. She was a skilled donut and cake maker and decorator and made cutout and tiered cakes for all her family’s special occasions, including making her own wedding cake, and three tiered cakes for her parents 40th wedding anniversary and her daughter Anna’s high school graduation.
Marlene and Richard enjoyed visiting their daughter Anna all over the world, including taking the greyhound bus to Washington D.C., the Amtrak train to Niagara Falls, Boston, Sacramento, California and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. They also visited Anna in London twice which included a tour of Europe; visiting the beaches of Normandy, riding the train through the Alps, dining in a rotating restaurant in Berlin, Germany and going on a Gondola ride with her future son-in-law, Dan in Venice.
Marlene and Richard had a tradition of taking family vacations once a year, which they continued with their grandchildren once they were old enough to travel. These trips included taking their oldest granddaughter Mindy to Washington, D.C. and Yellowstone, several trips to the Black Hills, taking the train to Denver, Adventureland in Iowa and meeting up with Marlene’s sister Rosemary and her grandchildren for swim weekends. In 2014, they took their granddaughter Macie to Sweden, Denmark and the Fjords of Norway.
Marlene also enjoyed trips to the casino until her health no longer allowed her to go. Her bubbly personality, infectious laugh and good luck made her well known to other players and the casino staff, many of whom became good friends. She loved to share the story of her winning two cars and true to Marlene’s generous spirit, she gave the first one to her granddaughter Mindy. Her claim to fame was that Ft. Randal Casino filmed her handing over the keys to Mindy and made a television commercial from the footage.
Marlene constantly worried about others and family was everything to her. She always wanted to make sure everyone around her was taken care of and of course fed, especially her precious David who meant the world to her.
She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Richard Kerner; three children, Steve Kerner and wife Julie of Burke, SD, her daughter Anna Kerner Andersson and husband Dan of Burke, SD and her son David Kerner of Winner, SD; a brother, John Gerdes and wife Maureen of Kimball, SD; and 9 grandchildren, Mindy (Jared) Bolling, Austin (Cheyanne) Kerner, Macie (Wes) York, Ava Kerner, Mattie Kerner, Sophie Kerner Andersson, Elizabeth Kerner Andersson, Anna Christina Kerner Andersson and Richard Kerner Andersson and 3 great grandchildren, Emerson and Micah Bolling and Waylon York.
She is preceded in death by her parents, John and Darline (Powers) Gerdes, and her sister Rosemary Rasmussen. Funeral services for Marlene Kerner, age 71, of Burke, SD, were held on Friday, July 28, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Burke, SD. Burial was in the Graceland Cemetery, Burke.
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