Grace Edna Pigman

Grace Edna McFarlane Pigman, age 96, Jackson, MN, formerly of Raymond, SD, the widow of Melvin "Fat" Pigman, died at the Good Samaritan Center in Jackson, MN early Sunday morning, June 22, 2014. Funeral services will be held on Friday, June 27, 2014 in the Grace Lutheran Church, rural Worthington, MN, at 10:30 AM with The Reverend Rachel Wrenn officiating. Visitation will be held one hour prior to services in the Church on Friday morning. Shirley King will be the organist. The soloist will be Theresa Levtzow, great-granddaughter, singing "In the Garden". The congregation will sing "Amazing Grace", "Jesus Loves Me", and "Borning Cry". The casketbearers will be Steven and Stacy Fleace, Jim White, James Schuett, Tyler Meyer and Ian Fleace. Burial will be at 5:00 PM in the Prairie Valley Cemetery near Raymond, SD with The Reverend Gary Anderson officiating. Anyone attending the burial is asked to meet at the Legion Hall/Fire Station in Raymond, SD at 4:45 PM and we will go in procession to the cemetery. She was born Grace Edna McFarlane on July 25, 1917 in Knox County, Nebraska, the daughter of Albert B. and Dora (Bruhn) McFarlane, growing up on the family farm, one of 12 siblings. She attended school through the 8th grade. She loved school, books, reading and poetry. Wanting very much to attend high school, but this was not to be since she was needed to help at home due to her mother's illness. During the depression years she helped in the garden and in the farm kitchen. She met Melvin Pigman when he was hauling oats to Nebraska for feed. The couple married on March 14, 1938 at Yankton, SD. She said, "When she had come to Minnesota after her marriage to Melvin, it was so fresh and green, it felt like heaven!" Grace and Melvin farmed in Minnesota and Grace cared for her three daughters and her chickens, and even milking cows with the little girls along in the barn. She was a beautiful seamstress who handmade clothing for the girls- often from the sacks that the chicken feed came in. Grace was a 4-H Club leader for the Ewington 4-H Club. She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, greatly enjoying the Ladies Aide and helping to sew many quilts. Grace was also a member of the Good Will Club. Grace worked at the Cashel Nursing Home and the Worthington Municipal Hospital where she worked in the nursery with the newborn babies, something she thoroughly enjoyed, having a special love for babies and small children. The couple moved to Raymond, SD in 1971 and lived there until 1998. While living in South Dakota they were members of St. Paul Lutheran Church at Clark. They made many friends while living in the Raymond area. She worked at the Beverly Health Care Center in Clark and the State School in Redfield. The couple also worked together at the Missouri Slope Feed Yard near Oneida, SD. In 1998 they returned to Ewington Township Jackson County, MN. As Melvin's health was progressing with his Alzheimer's disease, Grace cared for him at home. After his death in 2004, she continued living in their home until moving into the Lakeview Assisted Living in Heron Lake, MN and in 2012, she moved to the Good Samaritan Center in Jackson, MN. Grandma Gracie's survivors are her daughters, Gwenlyn (Gerald) Fleace of Round Lake, MN, Arlys (Gary) Schuett of Lakefield, MN and Marjorie Meyer of Raymond, SD; 11 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren; a sister, Harriett Prosch of Bloomfield, NE and sisters-in-law, Joyce McFarlane of Bloomfield, NE and Deloris Pigman of Windom, MN. Preceding her in death were her parents, husband of 66 years, Melvin Pigman, 7 brothers, Chester, Louis, Albert, Jr., Clarence, Herman, Wallace and George McFarlane and 3 sisters, Dessie Wenke, Marjorie Halleen and Marcella Wearne and a son-in-law, Robert Meyer of Raymond, SD. Furness Funeral Home of Clark, SD is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com