Category Archives: News

Frieda Mae (Karel) Stritecky was born March 24, 1929 in a small farmhouse one mile west of Colome, SD. Frieda was the youngest of five children born to Louie and Flora (Bruns) Karel. She spent her childhood living with her parents, a brother, and three sisters on various farms near Colome and Dallas. Frieda attended all eight years of grade school in a one room rural school.

Following graduation from Colome High School in 1948, she attended Black Hills State College in Spearfish to get a semester of training for a teaching certificate. Frieda then taught school for a year before marrying Joseph Stritecky on June 11, 1949 at the Colome United Methodist Church.

They lived on a farm three miles northeast of Colome for the first 26 years. In 1976, they bought a home in Colome. Frieda continued to live there after Joe passed away in August of 2013. In April of 2015 she moved to Rose Manor Assisted Living in Colome where she was a current resident up until the time she passed away.

Frieda was a current member of the Winner United Methodist Church. She also spent several years driving school bus for the Colome School and made many friends. She treasured the time spent with her family. Joe and Frieda liked to travel. Their trips included Alaska and Hawaii besides visiting their children in and out of state.

Frieda passed away on February 10, 2016, at Avera Gregory Healthcare center at the age of 86. Frieda will be missed by all who knew her and enjoyed her cooking and game playing especially cards and Scrabble.

Aileen Claire Leat was born to C.L. “Ted” Leat and Freda Leat on July 11th, 1927, the second of eight children.
Aileen passed away on Monday, February 8th, 2016 in Apple Valley, MN, with her children and grandchildren surrounding her in her last days.
On April 12th, 1950, Aileen married Marvin Hopkins. After a brief stay in Winner, they moved to the Hopkins family homestead southwest of Winner. There she and Marvin raised seven children, cattle, hogs, chickens, a barn full of cats, the occasional dog, and one incredibly ill-tempered goose.
The family had a big garden every year, filling a small valley. Aileen grew rows of vegetables and flowers, and loved zinnias, cosmos, and 4 o’clocks. The house always had morning glories on the fence, and marigolds and petunias in the front. Aileen regularly canned tomatoes, green beans, peaches, pears, and always had plenty of food on hand. She would say, “no one goes hungry” on occasion, and no one did.
She ran her own ceramics business in the 70’s, firing pieces in her own kiln. Many of her children joined in and made all sorts of beautiful pieces, as well as a few ugly ones.
Aileen practiced lots of fiber arts, including sewing, quilting, crocheting, tatting lace, embroidery, cross-stitch, Hardanger, and knitting. There were always colorful mittens for winter and beautiful hand-crafts around the house. Her children received many quilts over the years, often made with fabrics from old dresses, shirts, curtains, and other items that would evoke memories. These quilts are treasured by all who received them.
In later years, she and Marvin worked as meat cutters for Dick and Pauline English before finally retiring.
Aileen’s children and grandchildren will remember her sweet smile, her stubborn German streak, her brook-no-nonsense approach to raising children, and the disapproving frown she would make. The frown curtailed a lot of shenanigans, and later in life made her adult children burst into laughter. She relished having her children and grandchildren visit, and enjoyed seeing them all smiling and laughing, and sometimes being incredibly loud and physical. Her boys were the source of a few broken couches, much to her annoyance.

Logan Wayne Thoene was born September 14, 1927 at Bonesteel, South Dakota to Fred and Lillian (Lunn) Thoene. He died February 7, 2016 at the Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the age of 88 years. Prior to his hospitalization Logan and his wife Leone lived in Sioux Falls at the Inn on Westport Assisted Living from the time that his health began failing.

Logan attended Bonesteel High School. At the age of 16 he took over the family farm and ranch when his father was struck by lightning and was killed. On March 9, 1948 Logan married Leone (Perlenfein) Thoene, the love of his life. To this union three children were born: Cindy, Fred and Shelley.

Logan and Leone operated the farm/ranch for most of their married lives where they farmed, raised registered Polled Herefords, and ran a grade A dairy, milking 100 cows. They also turned a hobby of making beautiful porcelain dolls into a full-blown business. Their dolls can be found in many states and in some foreign countries. They were honored when they were chosen to create the “official centennial doll” for the State of South Dakota in 1989. Logan and Leone moved to Sioux Falls in 1992. They also enjoyed their Florida home where they spent six months of every year.

Logan was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was a kind and gentle man who loved his family dearly. He enjoyed working on the farm and raising cattle, which stemmed from his participation in 4-H at a very early age. He was also actively involved in the 4-H programs with his children. Logan loved making the porcelain dolls with Leone and taking them to shows. The beautiful flowers that adorned the Thoene yard were a source of pride.

In 1962 Logan was chosen as the “Outstanding Young Farmer of the Year” for the State of South Dakota. Over the years he was also honored with several conservation awards. Logan served on the Gregory County School Board, the local Bonesteel School Board, and the Pleasant Valley Township Board. He was a member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bonesteel and later St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Sioux Falls.

Ruth Elizabeth (Peitz) Taggart was born in Winner, SD on December 6, 1935. She was the fourth of seven children born to William and Betty (Bruce) Peitz.

Growing up on the farm Ruth enjoyed walking to school with her brothers and sisters and playing with the neighbor girls. Her imagination for “make believe” was a great characteristic of Ruth’s creativity.

Ruth graduated from Colome High School in 1953. After high school she worked at The Winner Advocate. She loved her job and was good at it. Fate had different plans for her though as she soon met Paul Taggart, her love of 60 years. They married on November 12, 1955 and moved to Paul’s family farm northwest of Dallas, SD and raised five children. She was a wonderful wife, mother, and business partner. Ruth was active in her children’s school activities as well–serving as fund raiser and chaperone for various high school events. She never missed a wrestling match, baseball, football, or basketball game.

In 1980 Paul and Ruth along with the help of their five kids began one of the first commercial pheasant hunting operations in SD. They named it P&R Hunting Lodge. It was a great success and she took great pride in nurturing it. Her grandchildren grew up watching and learning from her. They will all tell you she was a great influence in shaping their lives today.

Ruth was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church. Her favorite saying was “You must walk through glass to get to mass”.

In 2010, Paul and Ruth moved from the farm and retired in Gregory, SD. From here she followed the grandkids in their sports activities. She was also a huge NFL fan and was always following her favorite teams and had great fun placing wagers on the game. She was an accomplished breadmaker and made it her duty to make sure that everyone got a taste. Her blue Lincoln car was fondly called the “blue bread buggy.” If you saw it, you can be sure she was delivering some warm rolls to someone. When asked why she did it, she would reply, “Because I want too.”

After a short illness, Ruth passed away February 10, 2016 at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls at the age of 80 years.

Olive Juanita Sargent was born April 4, 1922 at Thermopolis, WY, to John E and Blanche (Brown) Hammett, Sr. and she died February 4, 2016 at the Avera Gregory Hospital in Gregory at the age of 93 years.
She was the oldest of six children. At the age of five her family moved to Upper Lodge Grass Creek near Lodge Grass, MT. Her father, John, was a cowboy and worked on various large ranches. They moved often to various cow camps. Olive attended several country schools while growing up. She attended Lodge Grass High School in Lodge Grass, MT. On December 12, 1940, Olive married Hollis Wayland Sargent at the Baptist Church in Hardin, MT. They traveled to Dixon to visit Hollis’s mother, Adelein and step-father, William Moore and family.
In 1947, Olive and Hollis moved to Bonesteel where they worked on a ranch. In 1958, they moved to Gregory where they farmed until 1961, then moved to Burke where they continued to farm. They later sold out and purchased a home in Burke where she continued to live after the loss of her husband.