Elsie G. Houghton

Elsie Gertie (Grimm) Houghton, age 83, of Willow Lake, SD passed away May 8, 2018 at her home near Willow Lake with family by her side.

A memorial visitation will be held Thursday evening, May 17 from 6-8 PM at Furness Funeral Home of Clark.  A memorial service will be Friday afternoon, May 18 at 2 PM at the Furness Funeral Home Chapel. Greg Furness will be presiding over the service.  Dorothy Fuller will be the pianist and Lisa Bruley will be the soloist.

She was born on July 27, 1934 to Earnest and Elsie (Carl) Grimm on her parent's farm in Hand County, SD. At the age of six months, she moved with her family to Perkins, OK where she attended school at Perkins until the family moved back to SD in June of 1943. She attended grade school at Collins #36 Country School and graduated from Willow Lake High School.

Elsie married Albert Houghton on February 12, 1951 at Huron, SD. They lived in Willow Lake until 1968 when the family moved to Webster, SD. When they moved to Webster, they started Houghton Addition to Webster. She worked as a bookkeeper at Farmers' Union GTA Elevator. Later she owned a Montgomery Ward's Sales Agency and later became a real estate sales person, a drapery manager for a department store and owned with her family "Webster Seed and Grain." In 1993, she and her husband retired back to the farm at Willow Lake.

Some of Elsie's greatest joys were first of all her family and grandkids, remodeling and decorating homes, travel to anywhere, flower gardening, and her two dogs, Bark and Max.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Albert "Bud", two sisters, a baby and Flossie Disrud, and two brothers William "Bill" (Betty) and Earnest "Tiny."

Elsie is survived by her children Gary (Gail) Houghton of Claire City, LaVonne Hagen, and Lee (Sandy) Houghton, all of Webster; foster children Patrick (Mary) Welch of Omaha, NE, Larry (Robin) Welch of Colorado Springs, CO and Terry (Amy) Welch of Wahpeton, ND;  18 grandchildren; 12 great grandchildren; and three brothers Virgil (Dorothy) Grimm, Robert (Marg) Grimm and Darwin (Veloy) Grimm and sister-in-law, Karen Emil (for always being here, by my side).

Elsie wished any memorials to be directed to the First Baptist Church of Aberdeen, SD.

Furness Funeral Home of Clark is handling the arrangements where there is an online registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com .