Category Archives: Local

Illa Derry, 74, of Wood, SD passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022 at the Winner Regional Healthcare Facility in Winner, SD.

 Funeral service was held on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. at the Mason Funeral Home in Winner, SD.  Burial will followed in the Evergreen Cemetery in Wood, SD.  A visitation was held one hour prior to funeral service.

Illa Mae Derry was born on July 5, 1948 in Winner, South Dakota to Wendell and Florence (Burgess) Dimond of Wood, South Dakota.  Illa was the 6th child of seven children, Shirley, Larry, Marilyn, Ronnie, Burton, Illa and Karen.

Illa attended school in Wood, South Dakota graduating in 1966.  She also attended Springfield College.  Illa was a cheerleader, loved being in school plays, worked on the school year book and loved high school sports.

Illa married Robert E. Derry in 1966.  They owned and ranched at Derry Cattle Co.  Illa loved ranching, sewing, her flowers, roses, as well as a passion for cooking for her family.

As youngsters she loved playing in the mud, making mud pies with her siblings and she also had a great loved for working with cattle and hogs.

In 1970, Dawn Denine was born to Illa and Robert Derry.  Illa had two grandchildren, Levi and Riley who she adored and loved attending as many of their sports events as she could.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Wendell and Florence (Burgess) Dimond, brother Larry Dimond, nephews; Ryan and Chad Harris, Scott Dimond and Ronnie Derry, brothers-in-law, Jerry Bruning, Lee Galbraith and Jim Hedlund.

Illa is survived by her spouse Robert E. Derry of Wood, SD,  daughter Dawn (Blake) McClanahan of Winner, SD, Grandchildren; Levi McClanahan and Riley McClanahan of Winner, SD, siblings; Shirley Bruning of Gillette, WY, Marilyn Galbraith of Wood, SD, Ronnie (Linda) Dimond of Wood, SD, Burton (Mary) Dimond of Witten, SD, Karen (Glenn) Harris of Rapid City, SD, sisters-in-law Twila Edwards of Wisconsin, Linda Hedlund of Washington, brothers-in-law Claude (Judy) Derry of Winner, SD, Ken (Marilyn) Derry of Oklahoma and many nieces, nephews and friends.

Teresa Taylor — Staff Writer

In the summer of 2021, the SDSU 4-H Extension Office in Winner gained a part-time assistant, Ryan Sell. In 2022, shortly after graduating from Winner High School, he applied and interviewed through SDSU for the full-time position.

Sell spent his time at the Extension Office answering phone calls, assisting with workshops, mailing reminders, and preparing for the Mid Dakota Fair.

Over the first half of the summer, the 4-H Extension Office hosted 13 workshops. Sell assisted with eleven and led two. Nearly all of the workshops filled their capacities, and several had waiting lists.

In May, he supervised Cloverbuds (ages 5-7) building wooden derby cars and helped them race their cars on a track borrowed from the Boy Scouts.

“At the first workshop, none of the parents stayed, and I could barely control them,” Sell said.

The Cloverbuds’ parents stayed for his next workshop in June, and it ran much more smoothly. Sell oversaw a successful Cloverbud Project Day. They made chalk, designed bean art, and painted clay pots. Each Cloverbud planted a flower, and Sell encouraged them to keep it alive for the Mid Dakota Fair.“They can go to the fair, put their items in the corner, not do any paperwork, and still get ribbons,” Sell said.

The Mid Dakota Fair ran Aug. 2 through 6. The previous Friday, Sell and Debby Steinke began setting up and decorating. At the fair, Sell worked to ensure the events ran smoothly, managed late entries, and announced for small animals.

When Sell was younger, the inflatables were his favorite part of the fair. This year, his favorite part was seeing all the people.

“I got to see a lot of people who I remembered or who remembered me when I was littler,” Sell said. “It’s like going to school. You hate it because you have to do all the work, but the one silver lining is that you see your friends every day.”

 August 12 will be Sell’s last day at the Extension Office. The following week, he will start his first year at Dakota State University for computer science.

“This last week will be spent mostly decompressing and getting everything out of the 4-H Center and back to the office,” Sell said. “If you think about it, my whole job was one big build up to the fair, fair happened, and now the last week will be spent cleaning up.”

The cold mill machine will return to take out some of the pavement between Jackson St. and Subway on Highway 44.

This was one of the updates presented by Doug Sherman of the South Dakota DOT at the Aug. 2 highway update meeting.

With the cold mill back there will flaggers and pilot cars.

Sherman said Cherry Street which had been closed was scheduled to be opened on Aug. 2.

Sherman added that the Family Dollar approach will be built in phases and it will be very narrow entering this business.

There is a truck detour in place on Highway 44. The detour is Highway 49 and Highway 18. Sherman asks for cooperation in observing the detour.

He noted there is a membrane on the new highway surface and it could be damaged by trucks and that is one of the reasons for the detour.

If local truck traffic needs to get to a business that is allowed.

The concrete paving on Highway 44 is expected to start after Labor Day.

Please drive slow and follow all signs on Highway 44.

Taya DuBray, age 5, was crowned national American Miss South Dakota princess for 2022 at the National American Miss pageant which was held in Des Moines, Iowa, this weekend.

DuBray is the daughter of Charles and Jennifer DuBray, youngest sister to CJ, Sophia and Benjamin DuBray. She is also the granddaughter of Lee and Kathy Peneaux and Fidel and Rose Mendoza, all of Winner.

DuBray went into the pageant as a first timer. Her family saw a story on Facebook and decided to sign up their daughter. There was a phone interview where she was selected as a finalist.

She attended the pageant in Des Moines where she competed in formal, casual wear plus took part in an interview.

The Winner girl will be attending nationals in Orlando, Fla., the week of Thanksgiving.

It will be fun time in Colome on Saturday, Aug. 13 at the Cowboy Fair.

There are events going on all day and will conclude with a street dance.

A farmers market will be held in the Colome city park starting at 10 a.m.

All vendors are welcome.

The Colome Volunteer Fire Department will be having a basic fire education for kids. This will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fire department will be set up next to the park. There will be fire safety awareness. The kids will get to try on some fire gear.

The Colome park committee will be serving lunch in the park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The fair will feature a scavenger hunt which is being organized by Kathy Hrabanek.

There will be cowboy fast draw shooting starting at 11 a.m.

Wiffle ball will be played starting at 1 p.m. This will be located in the open lot between Skatetowne and the Vet’s Hall.

Persons can just show up to play wiffle ball.

There will be a car, pickup, motorcycle show on Main Street from 3-5 p.m. Persons can park on Main Street, take a picture of the vehicle and go into the Frontier Bar to register. A gift certificate will be given for every 25^th car that registers for the show.

Starting at 5 p.m. there will be a cruise night as persons can drive around town to show off their vehicle.

Also a 5 p.m., an area will be marked off where persons can do a little tire smoke out and see who can burn some rubber.

There will be a street dance starting at 8 p.m. sponsored by Frontier Bar and 5 Leaf Clover.

The D. J. will be Elvis J. Freshly.

There will be sidewalk art all day where persons of all ages can take some chalk and draw a picture.

183 Ink will be doing tattoos in Dan’s Last Shot.

Country Charm Café will have food and refreshments. In addition, the café will have cornhole and horseshoe plus a mechanical bull.

All are invited to Colome to have a good time on Aug. 13.

The final Winner Area Chamber of Commerce summer nights for the season will be held Aug. 12.

It will be held on the third block of Main St. and will be from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

Frontier Motors is the sponsor and they have a lot of fun things planned.

Kids will be entertained by Special K’s the clown and her bubble show, Felix the clown is a balloon tier. Sweet pea is a clown and does face painting.

There will be magic tricks with Jerry Snyder. Snyder plans to do two shows—one at around 6 p.m. and the second one at 7 p.m.

There will be other games for persons of all ages.

The band will be Westbound.

There will be food vendors available.

This will be a great event to close out the summer.

On Monday, Aug. 8th through Thursday, Aug. 11, the Winner Elementary School will be conducting its 4th year of Jump Start.  Jump Start is for Begindergarten/Kindergarten students NEW to the Winner Elementary School.  This is a time to get the new students aquatinted with the building and the routines in school. 

Jump Start begins at 8 am and runs until 11:30 am.  A breakfast snack and lunch will be provided at no cost.  On the first day, we ask that parents/guardians accompany their students to the office, and school secretary, Lorna Phillips will direct them to their classroom. 

The Winner School District will provide transportation for the Ideal and Winner Housing communities.  If you need transportation call the elementary school office at 842-8170 by noon on Aug. 5.

If you have any questions feel free to stop at the elementary school office or call.

By Dan Bechtold

Editor

A new business has opened in Winner which preserves a Main Street building and continues the tradition of a flower shop.

Accent Florals at JNS Cornerstore is owned by Jon and Nelle Schlomer. The business is located in the former Winner Gas & Electric building.

The Scholmers purchased the building in March from Steve and Kathy Nielsen who owned Winner Gas & Electric for 35 years.

When the Scholmers purchased Winner Gas & Electric they were approached by Dennis and Kathy Calhoon to buy the flower shop.

“We did not want to see another business close on Main Street. It was close to our home ad we just wanted to see Main Street thrive,” said Jon.

The Scholmers bought the flower shop and Nelle said it was a perfect combination with the Main Street store front to add a floral shop.

Dennis and Kathy Calhoon owned Accent Florals for many years.

The design team from Accent Florals has moved into the former Winner Gas & Electric building. Kathy Calhoon is the lead designer. Deb Kindt and Kody Assman are designers. Lexy Mach and Nelle are learning to be designers.

Also working at the store are Dee Foster and Vicki Shippy.

Nelle says the new business has expanded the gift line including more baby gifts, birthday, anniversary gifts. The couple have brought back the Jelly Bellies which are really popular and are offering a line of specialty coffees.

New to the gift line will be Christian memorabilia.

Nelle says they have fabulous glass blown pheasants that will make nice gifts or decorations.

The business will offer same day delivery on flowers and gifts.

In addition to expanding the gift line, the business has a beer and wine license.

The business is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday through Friday. It is closed on Saturday.

Nelle says the business still has a lot of electrical and hardware parts from the former Winner Gas & Electric. There are furnace filters that are still for sale.

“We are still trying to sell through the Winner Gas & Electric items,” said Nelle.

To order flowers or gifts persons can call 605 842-2346. Persons can also order flowers from the website at accentfloralswinner.com

Winner Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting at the new business on July 26.