Sylvania Earll, 77, of Winner, SD passed away on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022 at the Winner Regional Health Care Facility in Winner, SD.A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022 at 11 a.m. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Winner, SD. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the services.
Sylvania was born March 9, 1944 to Clarence and Sylvania (Risch) Sigety in Watertown, SD. She attended her elementary years in Florence. She grew up near the railroad and had lots of good memories with her friends and siblings. In 1960, she moved with her family to Rapid City, SD. She attended her Sophomore- Senior year there, graduating from Rapid City in 1962. She worked at the Woolworths store and babysat when not in school. Her parents were foster parents, so she kept busy helping with those children as well.
In April of 1967 she went on her first date with Leo Earll. In September of 1967, they were united in marriage. They spent their first nine months of marriage traveling around North and South Dakota doing custom farm work. Then, they settled on Leo’s family farm near Witten, SD raising hogs. In March of 1970, on her birthday, her first son Duane was born. Lee shortly followed in August of 1971. They lived there happily until Leo passed away from a heart attack in 1976. She found herself raising two boys on her own at age 31. A few years after she lost Leo, she was married for a short time to Jim Sell. She helped him with his 4 children as if they were her own. She went on to raise her boys on her own. In 1984, Sylvania started working at the Winner Baptist Hospital as a nurse’s aide. She worked a brief time at the Adjustment Training Center before returning to the hospital. A dream had awakened and she decided she would start working towards becoming a Registered Nurse. She started nursing school at Dakota Wesleyan with her best friend, Carol Horstman, and together they graduated in 1991. She was employed at the hospital in different capacities as a nurse. She has left behind many stories of laughter and tears from her time there. She was gentle and caring, but best believe she was a voice for her patients. In 1996, she brought her mother home from Arkansas to live with her. They resided in Colome. She became a grandmother to her first grandson, Spencer in 1998. She took the title very seriously. Her second grandson, Cody was born in 2001. She spent lots of time spoiling them rotten, making sure the snack drawer was always full and that they could go eat at the “bar”, go bowling, or to a movie whenever they wanted. They had many adventures over the years. Sylvania retired from nursing, but continued taking care of everyone. She could be found cooking for her grandson over his lunch hour, baking goodies or making jelly, helping a neighbor, taking someone to an appointment, making rosaries for the church and taking care of church family. In 2021, Sylvania was able to connect with a daughter that she made the hard choice to give up when she was young. Meeting her this fall was one of the highlights of her life.
Sylvania was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence and Sylvania Sigety, husband, Leo Earll, and brother Dennis Sigety. Survived by her daughter Robyn Hauk and her family; son Duane (Kendra) Earll, grandsons Spencer and Cody Earll and son, Lee Earll, her brothers, Joe (Carole) Sigety, Kevin (Colleen) Sigety, Pat (Deb) Sigety, and many nieces and nephews, family and friends
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