Category Archives: Local

Crystal Blare, 62

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Crystal “Cris” Blare, age 62, passed away on Saturday May 16, 2020 at the Avera Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell, SD.

Funeral service was held on Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 11 a.m. at the First Christian Church in Winner, SD. Burial followed in the Winner City Cemetery.

Luncheon was served at the Witten Community Hall immediately following burial.

Crystal Lynn Maier was born on Feb. 10, 1958 to Eugene and Velma Maier in Winner, SD. She attended grade school at Pahapesto School in northern Tripp County, across the road from her family ranch.

She spent her freshman year at Wood High School alongside her brother Terry who was a senior at the time. She would attend the rest of high school and graduate from Winner High School in 1975.

Following graduation, she moved to Wyoming and began working at True Trucking and later worked at Caterpillar.

She met the love of her life during this time and married Cully Blare on Aug. 12, 1989 in Gillette, Wyo. They spent several years trucking and were able to travel and see many parts of the country together.

On March 31, 1996, their daughter Josey was born in Tulare, CA, where Cully and Cris had decided to start their family.

In 2001, they moved to Coleridge, NE to be closer to her ailing dad. The following year they moved to Carter, SD and began ranching.

Cris held many jobs in her later life, some of her favorite were being a paraprofessional, the house mom in Josey’s sorority during her last semester in college, and housekeeper for all of her family and friends.

All of her life, Cris enjoyed helping and giving to those around her. She was most known for her intelligence and generosity, especially the quilts she made for her nieces and nephews and the Christmas cookies and candy boxes she made every year.

She told everyone that would listen that her proudest accomplishment was her daughter Josey and that she was attending law school at USD.

She is survived by her loving husband of 30 years, Cully, and her daughter Josey. Her brother Terry (Regina) and her sister Kim Sell.

Her stepsister Stacey Maier and stepmother Kathi Maier. 7 nieces and nephews – Ty Maier, Tara Maier, Taylor Maier, Terrance Maier, Trey Maier, Jacey Kreeger, Dusty Sell, and many uncles, aunts, cousins, great-nieces, great-nephews and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents Eugene and Velma.

Legion baseball is on for the summer

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After a crazy week of on again, off again Legion baseball, the Winner Baseball Association approved a summer season for the Legion program.

The Winner Baseball Association met Friday night and approved a summer season.

Coach Kory Foss said last Saturday the state Legion board came out and said there would have a Legion season. Then the next day the national Legion board said it would not support baseball in any state.

“At that point it looked like our season was over,” said Foss. “But Class A teams began discussing the possibility of playing an independent program outside of the Legion banner,” said Foss.

After a few days of discussion, the South Dakota Legion board came out and said it would allow teams to use the Legion logo and insurance, it just would not be a part of the season. “So with that new information, the Winner board felt comfortable moving forward,” explained the Legion coach.

“We have a lot of excited kids and coaches now that we finally have a true green light. There has been so much uncertainty not just over this past week but since our spring season was postponed before we even got a practice in.

I’m most happy for our players and for our seniors. They’ve had their final school year thrown into such a tailspin. I hope this can help provide some kind of closure to their high school baseball careers,” said Foss.

He added everyone is ready for some kind of normalcy and “I think baseball could be a big part of providing that. Baseball is something we’re all used to every summer.

I think being out at Leahy Bowl on a beautiful night and watching a ball game is something everyone can enjoy, especially after everything we have all experienced these last couple of months.”

Foss explained there are going to be new rules and regulations that the team has never had before when it comes to travel and social distancing whenever possible “but these are small prices to pay to get back out on the field.”

The team will be looking to have signups this week and after waivers are signed the team will be able to hop right out there for practice. Winner cannot play ball before June 5.

“That will give us some time to get ready after such a long period off. We’ll use that time to get arms healthy and see some pitches in cages. We’ll probably look at scrimmaging the junior legion team or things like that where we can simulate some live action.

Whatever the case, I think everyone will just be happy to be back on the field with a glove, a bat or ball in hand,” said Foss.

2 students leaving for basic training received their diplomas

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
 A graduation ceremony was held for two Winner High School seniors who will not be at graduation on June 13. Cailob Week and Zane Mandl will be leaving for military training. The ceremony was held May 16 before the graduation wave parade. Pictured from left are Brett Gardner, who served as interim high school principal; Cailob Week, Zane Mandl and Supt. Keven Morehart.

Winner City puts up Winner High School senior banner’s on Main Street.

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
Troy Kruger, Winner city public works director, puts up a Winner senior banner on Main Street. All 45 WHS graduates have pictures on a light pole. This was one way to honor the graduating class who have been through a lot during this pandemic. The banners were put up in time for Saturday’s graduation wave parade.

Two high school rodeo competitor’s receive their diploma

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
A graduation ceremony was held for two Winner seniors who will not be at graduation on June 13 due to their competition in the regional rodeo. Saige Schuyler and Dawson Phillips were honored on May 16 prior to the graduation wave parade. Pictured from left are Brett Gardner, who served as interim principal; Dawson Phillips, Saige Schuyler and Supt. Keven Morehart.

Paint grant awarded to Winner, Colome schools

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
A paint donation from Winner True Value will help the Winner School District. True Value donated 20 gallons of paint to the school. Pictured from left are Keven Morehart, superintendent of the Winner School District, Dan and Coleen Patmore, owners of True Value.

The Winner and Colome School Districts are able to reap the benefits of a paint program sponsored by True Value.

The Winner store donated 20 gallons of paint to both Winner and Colome schools.

“This year we were able to nominate more than one school and we were very pleased to find out both Winner and Colome schools were both awarded the grant of 20 gallons of paint each,” said Dan and Coleen Patmore, owners of Winner True Value.

Colome will use the paint for the lobby by the gym, bathroom area and hallway.

Winner will use the paint for several touchup areas in its buildings.

The paint comes from True Value Foundation’s Painting a Brighter Future program.

The paint grant can help improve learning environments and can have an impact on youth attitudes performance.

Over 1,800 schools and youth development focused organizations across the country have been awarded paint since the program’s inception in 2009, covering 22 million square feet of learning space.

Senior Wave Parade

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Dan Bechtold/Winner Advocate Photo
Winner High School seniors line Main Street during a graduation wave parade. Rain did not stop the parade. May 16 was to have been the date of Winner’s graduation but due to COVID-19 the date was moved to June 13. There are 46 graduates in Winner’s senior class.

Winner Quarter Back Club donates to the EMT’s

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Dan Bechtold/ Winner Advocate Photo
Winner Quarterback Club donated Gatorade to Winner Volunteer Fire Department and Tripp County EMTs. This was Gatorade left over from the QB Club Y ball tournament. Normally, the QB Club donates it to Winner High School for
spring events when teams travel. Due to COVID-19 all spring sports were canceled in addition to school. Since the QB Club was not giving the Gatorade to the school they decided to donate to the firemen and EMTs. Pictured in front from left are Kathie Cole and Sissy Orel, co ambulance directors. In back from left are Paul Schueth, Tripp County ambulance; Zane Hamiel of the fire department and Jason Sachtjen of the QB Club.

Sandra Young, 75

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Funeral services for Sandra Kay Young were held May 19 at the Lucas Baptist Church with Rev. Mark Tuttle officiating.

Burial was in the Graceland Cemetery, Burke.

Sandra Kay Vosika was born in Gregory SD to Stanley “Skyk” & Velda (Johnson) Vosika on May 10, 1945. She was baptized and confirmed in the United Methodist Church in Gregory.

She attended the Powell School east of Gregory through the 8th grade and then graduated from Gregory High School in 1963. In high school she participated in band and chorus.

She worked at the Gregory Hospital for 2 summers during high school as a nurse’s aide and also worked at an ice cream shop.

She attended the Sioux Valley Hospital School of Nursing for 1 year.

In 1964 Sandy met the love of her life, Weary Young, and they were married in Gregory on Nov. 14, 1964. They became the parents of five children: Brent, Brenda, Brian, Brett, and Breana. T

ragically they lost their first-born, Brent, to a freak electrical accident in 1967 when he was 2 years old.

Sandy was a homemaker as she and Weary moved around the state while he was working on various construction projects. They then moved to Gregory in 1967.

In 1973 she and Weary moved out to the farm northeast of Burke and Sandy then worked milking cows for her father-in-law until 1989. She worked at the bowling alley in Burke from 1994-2000.

Sandy bowled on a league in both Gregory and Burke for 33 years and enjoyed attending state bowling tournaments every spring.

She also enjoyed playing cards weekly starting in 1996 with a group at the bowling alley and then later at the Senior Center in Burke.

For many years she had a large garden and did a lot of canning. Her greatest joys were the births of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She babysat her grandchildren a lot over the years and enjoyed attending their various extracurricular activities as much as possible. She enjoyed doing crossword and jigsaw puzzles.

Sandy and Weary celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2004 with a trip to Nashville, TN, and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014 with a trip to Branson, MO with their children and grandchildren.

She enjoyed many vacation trips through the years to the Black Hills and also traveled to Yellowstone National Park, Texas, Montana, Illinois, and Minnesota.

Sandy is survived by her husband, Weary; four children, Brenda Young of Midland TX, Brian (Dodi) Young of Sioux Falls, Brett (Betsy) Young of Sheldon IA, and Breana (Jack) Kennedy of Mitchell; nine grandchildren, Nicholas, Tyler (Karisa), Jenna (Zach), Taylor, Isaiah, Jackson, Paige, Ashlyn, and Drake; three great-grandchildren, Braxton, Gunnar, and Jolee; a brother, Craig (Roberta) Vosika of Gregory; brothers-in-law, Doyle (Barbara) Young and Boyt (Theresa) Young; an uncle, and several aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews, as well as two special “sisters,” Stella (Jack) Christensen of Council Bluffs IA and Cheryl Whiting of Gregory.

She was preceded in death by her parents; son, Brent; parents-in-law, Darrel & Helen (Brevik) Young; a brother-in-law, a niece, and several uncles, aunts, and cousins.