Elaine Joyce (Meyer) Winkel

February 8, 1941 ~ December 3, 2022

Elaine J. (Meyer) Winkel, 81, Sioux Falls, SD, reached the hands of Jesus, Saturday, December 3, 2022, at home, peacefully surrounded by her family.

Visitation with family present, will be 5 – 7pm, Wednesday, December 7, 2022, at Heartland Funeral Home.  Funeral Services will be 11am, Thursday, December 8, 2022, at the Brandon Valley Assembly of God Church, (201 S Sioux Blvd, Brandon, SD), with Pastor Randy Tweeten officiating. The Funeral will be live-streamed at http://brandonvalley.online.church The stream will begin at 10:30am. (Due to licensing requirements, Music will be dropped from the feed during service) Interment will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery in Sioux Falls. In lieu of flowers, our family requests donations be made to the Union Gospel Mission or the Children’s Inn of Sioux Falls, in Mom’s memory. (If you still feel the need to send flowers, Bella Rosa Floral in Sioux Falls is our contact. ~ 605-271-2637)

Elaine Joyce Meyer was born February 8, 1941, on a farm near rural Lennox, SD, to John and Molly (Rippentrop) Meyer, as the second of two girls. She attended school in Lennox until the family moved to Sioux Falls, during her freshman year of high school. She attended and graduated from Washington High School in 1959. Upon graduation, Elaine began working at Western Bank, for TM Reardon, as his first bookkeeper and teller in the bank. She worked for the bank for over 33 years full and part-time, before the bank was sold and transitioned over to the US Bank. Elaine then worked part-time for First Savings Bank in their Statements Department. After 13 years, they outsourced the department and again she was without a job. However, Elaine had already started working part-time for Qualified Presort, job sharing a position with Theresa Gallopo in the Hand Stuffing Dept. Elaine retired from QPS after over 20 years.

Somewhere around 1960, Mom’s brother-in-law, Orville, who worked with Dad at Fenn’s Dairy, dared him to call and ask her out. They were married on February 17, 1962, at Central Baptist Church in a blizzard. They remained members at Central for life and were members of the Ambassadors Adult Sunday School class. The couple built a home on the west side of Sioux Falls, where they still reside. Ron and Elaine had two sons, Todd and Chad. They made it a habit to support their children in every adventure they participated in from school, Band concerts, softball games, church activities, and Scouts. Mom and Dad introduced us to camping and we spent many vacations camping in the Black Hills and throughout South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. In a home with three boys (Dad included),  Mom was not one to be left out of an adventure. She accompanied us on many Deer, Pheasant, and Antelope hunting trips and fishing expeditions. While not a hunter, she had great eyes for spotting wild game. The best part of these trips was Mom brought snacks.  You would never go hungry. Mom also was not afraid to cook any of the sorted animals either. Originally, Mom was not a great cook. Dad tells of a date when she made a pizza, so bad the dog didn’t really want to eat it. That all changed as we can all attest to by looking at our size. Mom also was always full of surprises. You just never really knew what to expect for Christmas or birthdays. 

Elaine was granted two grandchildren, Dalana Jo, and Payton, and eventually four more. They were her pride and joy and could be found together every day during the summers on adventures at the Pavilion, the Butterfly House, the Zoo, the Fair, gardening, or even canoeing or fishing on the back pond at the farm. 

Unfortunately, in July of 2022, Mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung, liver, and brain Cancer. Even though Mom was optimistic and would never admit defeat, Saturday, December 3, 2022, Mom passed into the arms of Jesus, surrounded by her family, at her home.  

Elaine will be deeply missed by her husband of over 60 years, Ronald; two sons, Todd (Sue) Winkel, Brandon, and Chad (Tarah) Winkel, Sioux Falls; six grandchildren, Dalana Jo (Aaron), Payton, Kyle, Destrie (Rachel), Dax, and Morgan; one soon to be great-grandchild in April; in-laws, Alvah Winkel, Lois Winkel, and Marv (Sharon) Winkel; five nephews and nieces; four great-nephews and one great-niece; and many cousins.

Elaine was preceded in death by her parents, John and Mollie (Rippentrop) Meyer, one sister, Elnora, (Orville) Brandhagen; one brother-in-law, Duane Winkel; infant niece, an infant nephew, and one infant great-niece.

Share this post:
Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

Recent Comments
Archives