Katherine Ann Hannahs, 79

Funeral services for Katherine Ann Hannahs, 79, Gregory, were held June 22 at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Burial was in the church cemetery in Gregory.

Katherine Ann (King) Hannahs was born Nov. 1, 1944, in Gregory, SD, to Kenneth and Gladys (Liegl) King. She was the oldest of five children (one whom died in infancy). Katherine attended country school near their home just south of the Lyman-Gregory County line. She quit school during her sophomore year of high school to marry Alvin Hannahs. They were married Dec. 16, 1959, in Burke, SD.

Alvin and Katherine lived in Gregory when their daughter Kathy Lynn was born on Jan. 18, 1961. They lived in Gregory, Dallas, Winner, and Presho before moving to Palm Springs, CA, in 1961, where Kenneth Alvin was born on Nov. 22, 1963. In 1964, they packed up and moved back to Gregory where their youngest Lana Mae was born on March 21, 1965.

Katherine worked many odd jobs while raising their children, including taking in ironing, babysitting, and night waitress. After the children started school and building their home in Dallas, she was Head Start driver, janitor at Mary Vale, and did housecleaning, painting and papering. Then she started as a janitor at the Farmers Coop Association in Dallas and worked her way up to assistant bookkeeper. She was a cook at the Cove Cafe for a time before starting as a bookkeeper at the Gregory Farmers Elevator. In 1982 they sold their home in Dallas and moved to Gregory where she continued to work as a bookkeeper until 2001 when she was hired as the manager of the Gregory Farmers Elevator through 2009 when her illness of COPD forced her to retire. She suffered from the disease the rest of her life.

Katherine passed away on June 16, 2024, at the Avera Gregory Healthcare Center at the age of 79 years. 

She was preceded in death by her husband Alvin, parents, a sister and infant brother.

Katherine is survived by her three children Kathy Lynn Quinn of Watertown, SD, Kenneth Alvin Hannahs and Lana Mae Hannahs both of Gregory, SD; seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren; seven nieces; two brothers Raymond (Laurie) King of Morganton, NC, and Ronald (Carol) King of Grand Junction, CO; and many cousins and friends.