Mavis V Uecker

Mavis V. Uecker, age 96, Clark, formerly of the Raymond community, died in the Sanford USD Medical Center at Sioux Falls on September 8, 2009 after a brief illness. She was the widow of former South Dakota State Legislator Wilmont Bill Uecker. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 10AM in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at Raymond with the Reverend Mark Guthmiller officiating. Burial will follow in the Rose Hill Cemetery at Clark. Following the interment, everyone is invited to join the family at the Peace Lutheran Church at Clark for a dinner and a time of fellowship. The honorary casketbearers will be Janet Roehrich, Cindy Jacobsen and the staff and residents of Roetell Assisted Living Center. Serving as active casketbearers will be Robert Wegman, Robert Seefeldt, Jeremy Hermoe, Jack Nix, Darin Johannsen, Curt Wuertzer, Rich Ackerman and Tom Carlson. The organist will be Barb Wegman with the congregation singing Children of the Heavenly Father Hymn #339, What A Friend We Have in Jesus Hymn #411 and Gathering Flowers for the Masters Bouquet which is printed on the back of the service folder, a favorite hymn of Mavis that she requested be sung at her funeral. Visitation will be held on Friday from 5-7PM at the Furness Funeral Home Chapel in Clark and after 9AM at the Church Saturday morning in Raymond. She was born at Clark on August 26, 1913, the daughter of Joseph Milton and Leta (Bull) Tipton. The family lived on various farms around Clark where she attended various country schools including the Concord School west of Garden City. She graduated from Clark high School in 1931 and then attended college in Madison obtaining her teaching certificate. Mavis then began teaching country school for the next 9 years in Clark County, many of those years spent in the Bradley/Crocker area. On June 28, 1940 she was united in marriage to Wilmont M. Bill Uecker at her parents home north of Clark. The couple lived in the town of Raymond until 1944, where they owned and operated the Raymond Grocery. They continued owning the grocery store for a time but moved out of Raymond in 1944 to a farm seven miles north of Raymond where they lived for the next 33 years. Bill named this the Valley Edge Ranch. While living on the farm, Mavis will always be remembered for having a milk cow at all times, one called Iris and the other Pet. They then built a new home two miles further north where they lived until moving into the Roetell Apartments in 1995. Bill died on June 26, 2002 and Mavis moved into the Roetell Assisted Living Center where she lived until her death. She was a baptized member in the Methodist faith and then became a member, through adult confirmation, at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at Raymond. She often said to Bill, You can make me a Lutheran, but never make me a Democrat! well Mavis was active in the Church by serving as a Sunday School teacher and also was a part of the Ladies Aid. Some of her favorite pastimes were spent playing cards-by the way, very much a competitive spirit-, tending to her plants, especially African Violets, listening to the Minnesota Twins, crocheting everything from afghans to ponchos to caps until her eyesight failed- something she learned while being with Bill in Pierre, where she was part of the Capitol Hill Club- and was the life of many get-togethers with her wit. She will long be remembered for her love of dancing. Something else she was very proud of was being named the First Clark Potato Day Queen at the original celebration in 1972 and then also the named the Queen of the Raymond 125th anniversary celebration. This past June Mavis was recognized as the oldest living member of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at their 125th anniversary. Grateful for having shared in her life is her daughter, Jolene (John) Hermoe of Raymond, 4 grandchildren, Michelle (Curt) Wuertzer, Jeremy (Jessica) Hermoe, Heather Johannsen and Darin (Amanda) Johannsen. She also leaves 4 great-grandchildren who affectionately called her GG, Wyatt & Chantal Wuertzer, Gavin Hermoe and Sloan Johannsen. Preceding her in death were her parents, husband, a daughter Collene Johannsen in May of 2001 and her siblings, Maxine Kloster, Ruby Wallen and a brother in infancy, Kenneth. Arrangements are with the Furness Funeral Home at Clark where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com