Rosie
Julia Pesek Smith passed away on March 27, 2024, in Burke, SD. Rosie was born
June 12, 1933, to Joe and Helen (Vomacka) Pesek. She attended school around
Colome and Dallas through the 8th grade, attended Colome High School for two years,
and graduated from Gregory High School in 1954. She went on to attend Southern
State Teachers College in Springfield, SD.
Rosie
married Don Smith on October 9, 1954, at the Gregory Methodist Church. Rosie
and Don have lived in the Gregory area their entire married life of 69 years.
Rosie
taught in Dallas, Colome, Keya Paha, Gregory, and Hayes SD. Rosie taught for 12
years before retiring to take care of her mother who was injured in a car
accident. Rosie also cared for her father, brothers, and mother-in-law in her
retirement years. Rosie never forgot her former students and stayed in touch
with many of them. She loved all her former students as well as the
neighborhood children. Rosie was famous for giving candy bars or a dollar to
the neighborhood kids in exchange for a hug.
Rosie
loved to dance and listen to her Czech music. Her favorites were her dad’s
button accordion and the Leon Olsen band.
Preceding
Rosie in death are her parents, Joe and Helen Pesek, sister Helen, brothers
Joseph and Jim Pesek, great nephew Jeremy Pesek, mother and father-in-law Cliff
and Anna Smith, and close friend, Clarence Raschke.
Survivors
of Rosie are her husband Don Smith, brother Alvin Pesek, sister-in-law Linda
Smith, special friend Carol Raschke, many nephews and nieces, friends at
Buche’s, as well as neighbors and friends too numerous to list.
Rosie
will be greatly missed by many.
Funeral
Services for Rosie Smith, age 90, of Gregory, SD, will be held on Tuesday,
April 9, 2024, at 10:30AM at United Methodist Church in Gregory, South Dakota.
Burial will follow in Graceland Cemetery in Burke, SD. Visitation is one
hour prior to funeral service.
Janice Anderson, 80, of Winner, SD passed away on Sunday, March 31, 2024
at the Pipestone County Hospice Home in Pipestone, MN.
Funeral services were held on Saturday, April 6, 2024 at 11 a.m. at the
First Christian Church in Winner, SD. Burial
followed in the Winner City Cemetery.
Janice Elaine Anderson was born to James & Ethel (Schneider) Konvalin
in Winner South Dakota April 10, 1943.
She was the oldest of the 3 children.
She graduated from Winner High School in 1962.
She married Eldon Anderson June 8,
1963 in Kennebec South Dakota. To this
union one child was born, Dawn in 1973.
After marriage, Janice attended Stewarts School for Cosmetology in Sioux
Falls SD. She went on to be a
hairdresser for over 40 years with the majority of this time having her own
hair salon in her home.
Janice was an active member of First Christian Church serving as a
deacon. She was a member of the VFW
ladies Auxiliary in Winner. She enjoyed
baking and cooking and had a green thumb with plants. Every weekend, she looked forward to watching
NASCAR.
In the fall of 2016 Janice was diagnosed with cancer. She moved to Falls Landing Assisted Living
in Pipestone MN to be closer to her daughter.
She enjoyed this time being closer to her family. While living at the assisted living one of
the joys she took pride in was caring for all the plants at the facility.
On Easter Sunday March 31st Janice, died peacefully surrounded by her
family at the Pipestone County Hospice House in Pipestone, Minn.
Janice is lovingly remembered by her daughter Dawn (Jon) Carson, Pipestone
and their children Mitchel & Morgyn of Pipestone, one brother Michael
(Judy) Konvalin, Rapid City South Dakota, and several nephews and a niece.
She is preceded in death by her husband Eldon, her bother Larry Konvalin,
her parents James & Ethel Konvalin and mother and father-in-Law Leonard
& Helen Anderson.
Barbara Jean
“Barb” Winckler, 76, of Winner, SD passed away on Friday, March 29,
2024 at her residence in Winner, SD.
A Mass of Christian
Burial was held on Friday, April 5, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
in Winner, SD. Burial followed in the Winner City Cemetery.
Barbara Jean (“Barb”)
Winckler was born on May 29, 1947, to Raymond Bambas and Genevieve (Wysuph)
“Jenny” Bambas, in the Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota. She was the only child born to the Bambas
family and lived in Tyndall, South Dakota, throughout her upbringing. Ray was a
plumber while Jenny was a homemaker for many years; and, together, they ran the
local movie theatre and the Tyndall Sky Hi Drive-In.
Barb graduated from
Tyndall High School in 1965 – and treasured her high school classmates for life
– especially the love of her life Myron “Big Mike” Winckler. She went on to acquire her elementary
education bachelor’s degree from the University of South Dakota and began
teaching the next fall in the Yankton School District.
While growing up, Barb
was active in many school activities and, until the last few years, was happy
to share a demonstration of a favorite cheer while a high school
cheerleader. In college, she was a proud
member of the Chi Omega sorority and spoke often of her shared experiences with
her sorority sisters.
After many a love
letter while serving in the Army in Vietnam, Myron Mark Winckler made the best
decision of his life and asked Barbara Jean Bambas to marry him. They were engaged in February of 1969 and
married on July 24, 1969. They danced
beautifully – at weddings and other events – and ultimately, through life. To this union, two children were born –
Alicia Jean in 1972 and Mark Raymond in 1978.
After a few years in
Yankton, Mike and Barb moved to Colome, South Dakota, where Barb continued her
career as a teacher. A few years later,
they moved to the big city – Winner – with Barb transitioning to teach in the
Winner School District. While Mike was
socializing with others, enjoying the outdoors, and demonstrating reliably how
to tell a great story, Barb was trying to get him to “do good, kind things”,
“watch his language”, and be a role model for his children – but also laughed
heartily and was entertained by his antics, sayings, and retorts for the better
part of their life together. Although
their interests and personalities were very different, they remained in love
through each of their earthly transitions.
Through an impactful
career of 33 years as an elementary school teacher, primarily for reading and
math for early elementary students, she took great pride in the success of her
school children and would reference their life successes as she tracked many of
them quietly for years thereafter.
Barb was widely known
for her kindness, warmth, expressive cards and letters, and enthusiastic
conversations. She approached others
always with a smile and with a positivity, hopefulness, and faith that miracles
do happen while keeping hope alive for a better future. Many have shared stories about her kind words
and effervescent smile, enthusiastic waving while driving about town, and
enjoyable (yet never brief) conversations as she moved about her daily life –
noticeably changing their day in a positive way.
She took immense pride
in and loved her family deeply. To
anyone whom she encountered, she told stories about the successes and
accomplishments of her grandchildren and children – and when life wasn’t so
kind – what she hoped for each of their futures. She was also quite a sports enthusiast –
especially when her son, Mark, was wrestling.
At times, her response to what was happening on the mat was more
entertaining than what was actually happening on the mat.
She is survived by her
daughter Alicia Jean, her grandson, Lucas Edward Hansen, his father, Gary
Hansen; her son, Mark Raymond, his three children, Norah Blanche, Jacob Marcus,
and Sullivan Charles, and their mother, Melissa (Grossenburg) Winckler; and her
sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law – Norma (Bob) Bender, JoeWayne Winckler,
Vern Dangel, Jarvis (Marilyn) Winckler, Sue Winckler, Merlin (Lisa) Winckler,
and Larry Winckler.
Barb passed peacefully
in her home on Good Friday, March 29, 2024, appropriate as she was a staunch
woman of Catholic faith.
She was preceded in
death by her husband, Mike, her parents, Genevieve and Ray Bambas, her
sister-in-law, Arla Dangel, her brother-in-law David Winckler, Mike’s parents,
Hubert and Edna Winckler, several of she and Mike’s good friends, and many
uncles, aunts, cousins.
Bailey Fairbanks of Winner and Joseph Laprath of Colome will be recognized
for receiving their state FFA degree at the 96th annual South Dakota state FFA
convention April 19 in Brookings.
The state FFA Degree is the highest degree of membership conferred by the
South Dakota FFA association.
Fairbanks is a senior at Winner High School and Laprath is a senior at
Colome High School.
Fairbank’s SAE is based on her herd of registered Savanna goats. She
raises the goats on her family’s ranch in Tripp County on the banks of the
White River. Her responsibilities include feeding, administering medications,
trimming hooves and maintaining facilities. She also shows the animals and is
responsible for training, clipping, washing and fitting.
Her community service project included serving meals at the holiday
festival, snow removal, preparing backpacks, Little Dance camp, and helping
with upkeep of the Tripp County Historical Society.
For his SAE, Laprath worked with his sawmill and woodworking business. For
his community service, he has helped plan and host through NHS the annual
Colome High School Cowboy Olympics for homecoming week, assist students in
exploratory agriculture build wooden boot jacks and help referee during a
weekend junior high basketball game.
The requirements for the degree include:
•Having earned and productively invested at least $1,000 or worked at
least 300 hours in excess of scheduled class time or a combination thereof, in
a Supervised Agricultural Experience
program.
•Demonstrated leadership ability by performing ten procedures of
parliamentary law, giving a six minute speech on agriculture or FFA related
topic and serving as an officer or committee chairperson or participating
member of a chapter committee.
•Have completed at least 25 hours of community service.
There are 319 FFA members who will receive their state FFA Degree.
Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo Katie Burns won the Winner Rotary 4 Way Test essay contest. She is pictured with her parents Misti and Chris Burns on the right and her grandparents Jack and Marlene Burns on the left.
Katie Burns, a sixth grade
student at Winner Middle School, is the winner of the Winner Rotary Club
Four-Way test essay contest.
She is the daughter of
Chris and Misti Burns.
Here is the winning essay.
How
Can I Apply the Four-Way Test to My Life?
How can I apply the four-way test to my life?
Today, people are faced with a lot of
challenges that will have a significant impact on
their eve1yday lives. Often times we will spread rumors about somebody or
something to make ourselves feel better or feel included. I think
that applying the 4-Way
test to our lives can make an impact on our lives and many other
people’s lives.
The first
question of the Four-Way test is, “Is it the truth?” Before saying anything about someone or something
you should ask yourself “is it the
truth?” It can be hard not to get caught up in gossip, but we have to remember that it is not the truth. We also
must understand that gossiping will only result in you feeling guilty and others getting hurt. It does not feel so great when others lie to you, so why should you lie to them? We have all been in situations where we are pressured to lie,
but what matters
is if you lie with them or if you simply walk away from the situation, “those you surround yourself with is who you become.”
The next question to the Four-Way test is, “ls it fair to all concerned?” If you are fair to all concerned, you will face no issues with friendships. Imagine what you would feel like if someone did what you did to them, would
you feel joyous or would you feel
sorrowful? We must understand that we all deserve equality. It can be difficult to put others before ourselves sometimes, but when we do, we feel great. The fourth question to the 4-Way test is, “Is it beneficial to all concerned?”, before we say or do something about a situation, we should ask ourselves,
“is it beneficial to all concerned?”, is everyone who is involved
happy about the outcome.
The third question of the
Four-Way test is, “Will it build good will and a better friend?” I
believe that nowadays people strive to make more friendships and do not even
bother to improve the friendships that they already have. We must understand
that we should not attempt to make more friends if we cannot keep the ones that
we have. According to Rotary, there are five attributes to being a good
companion, respect, trust, reciprocity, shared experience, and enjoyment of
each other’s company.
I can apply the Four-Way test by asking
myself four questions before I say something that can harm others. You never do
really realize how saying four simple things can make an impact on your and
other people’s lives. The Four-Way test has helped me understand that I need to
look at the outcome of a situation before saying something hurtful towards
others. I believe that if everyone applies the 4-Way test to their daily lives,
we could have a safe and healthy environment.
Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo Three seniors received music scholarships at the pops concert on March 19. Pictured from left are Emily Sachtjen, Bailey Fairbanks, Cassie Shutt and Sarah Taggart of the Winner Music Boosters.
Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo Everlee Hickens of Sioux Falls had her picture taken with a rabbit Saturday at Runnings. Local 4-Hers helped with the project and showed kids how to handle and care for rabbits.
Winner has received a $500,000 solid waste management grant from the South
Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The grant is to purchase an existing solid waste handling facility and
equipment to include a walking floor trailer, used semi tractor, four roll off
containers, a mini excavator to facilitate the loading of garbage within the
facility and standardize solid waste containers for individual and commercial
use.
Winner Mayor Jody Brozik said: “Great day for the residents of Winner,
South Dakota. The DANR recognized the
efforts, abilities, and vision of the Sanitation and Recycling enterprise of
the city.
“I would like to congratulate Public Works Director Troy Kruger,
Sanitation Foreman Travis Waters, Finance Officer Chandra Phillips, and the
city council for all their work in a successful grant application. A lot of research and development has gone
into this endeavor. This team stuck to
our beliefs and were able to express the long term fruits to the
committee. They believed in our vision
and believe we will follow through on our plan.
With the award they have entrusted us with moving forward responsibly
and we thank them for this trust.”
The mayor added: “Although the immediate funds will be useful and
impactful, I am excited to see how operationally this will blossom into more
sustaining long term results for the residents of the City of Winner. When we took over this project, it was the
belief of this administration and council we could hold our collection rates
for up to four years. We have sustained
two years of status quo and should easily see the ability to sustain our
current rates for another two years plus.”
The Winner grant was one of several grants and loans for drinking water,
wastewater, storm water and solid waste projects in South Dakota. All the
grants totaled $172,554,815.
Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo Kids and adults race to find eggs during an Easter egg hunt on March 30 at McDonald Park. Winner Regional Health sponsored by event.
After
a courageous battle with depression, Chad Robert Kucera, age 49 died by suicide
on March 18, 2024, in Belgrade, MT. Chad will always be remembered for the love
and affection he showed family, friends, and the light he brought to so many
lives. The strength, bravery, and courage he displayed in fighting depression
was immense. We will always love and miss him, more than words can ever
express. It is our hope that he found his peace.
Chad
was born on July 16, 1974, in Winner, SD to Robert and Shelley Kucera. He
graduated from Winner High School in 1992. He began his electrical career
working with his dad at Kucera Electric and went on to receive an Associate
Degree in Electrical Construction and Maintenance from Mitchell Tech. He moved
to Spearfish, SD, and in the summer of 2000 met the love of his life, Tina. The
two were inseparable and moved their adventurous lives to the beautiful
mountains and rivers of Montana. Chad immediately discovered a strong love for
floating down Montana’s rivers in his cataraft, that he lovingly called
“Stella Blue.” He and Tina made many extended and adventurous trips
down the Smith and Yellowstone Rivers with friends. Many great memories were made.
Chad
also joined the Bozeman Curling Club. He quickly developed a strong love for
the sport and became an active board member. He was a dedicated advocate for
building, growing, and promoting the club. He was a loyal teammate, known for
playing in his bright orange pants. Chad’s biggest passion was music. He often
commented that music was “therapy to his soul.” He attended as many
concerts and festivals as he could. He was an absolute connoisseur and known to
be a music snob. Amongst Chad’s last wishes, was that his family and friends
log onto Spotify and listen to his 7,000 most liked songs. He said it contains
his entire life story. Chad worked as a Master Electrician and in the last year
as an Inside Salesman for North Coast Electrical Supply. Chad had a strong work
ethic and was always devoted to every job he did.
He
was a compassionate man, who had a strong love for all his friends and many he
called his brothers. He will forever be missed as the “fun” uncle who
adored and loved his nieces and nephews; even allowing them to decide his next
tattoo. He was very proud of his family and cherished the memories he made with
everyone.
Chad
leaves behind his wife, Tina and their loyal dogs, Lou and Sailor; parents, Bob
and Shelley Kucera; brothers, Jeremy Kucera, wife, Lauren and daughters,
Natalie and Hannah, Tyler Kucera, wife, Danielle and daughters, Deja, Ada and
Stella, and sons, Jake and Luke. A Celebration of Chad’s Life will be shared
with family and friends at a later date.
“I
have passed the mountain peak, my soul is soaring in the firmament of complete
and unbounded freedom; I am in comfort, I am in peace”-Khalil
Gibran.
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