Irene Hemmah

WEBSTER- Irene Hemmah, 81 of Webster died on Thursday, July 30, 2009 at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls. Her funeral will be at 11:00 A.M. Monday, August 3, 2009 at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Webster, Rev. Daniel and Rev. Kristin Ostercamp officiating. Burial will be at Fron Lutheran Cemetery, near Roslyn. Visitation will be at Fiksdal Funeral Service (fiksdalfuneral.com) on Sunday 4-7 P.M. with a 6:30 P.M. prayer service and prior to services on Monday. Irene Phyllis Monshaugen was born on Thursday, January 5, 1928 to Peter and Inga (Hanson) Monshaugen on the family farm south of Roslyn, South Dakota. She was baptized and confirmed at Fron Lutheran Church near Roslyn. She attended school in Roslyn and graduated from Roslyn High School in 1946 as Valedictorian of her class. She attended Northern State Teacher’s College in Aberdeen and received her wartime teaching certificate plus several college credits toward Leadership Training. On October 12, 1946 she was united in marriage to Arnold Hemmah at Fron Lutheran Church. The couple farmed north of Roslyn. In the fall of 1961 they moved to Roslyn. She moved to Webster in 1997 where she resided until the time of her death. She was a teacher, wife, mother, grandma and great grammy. She worked as a secretary at the A.S.C. office, was a nurses aide at Day County Hospital and worked at Dakotah, Inc. for seventeen years, retiring in July 1996. She was President of Roslyn Music Mothers, was a Roslyn School Board Member for eight years, a member of the Webster Vocational School Board when it first became a reality and served as its President. She was a member of Fron Lutheran Church where she taught Sunday School and was Sunday School Superintendent for many years. She held the following church offices at Fron: President and Secretary of the congregation, church council member, Ladies’ Aide President, Vice President and Treasurer and held several women’s circle offices. She most recently was active in the Sarah Circle and Search Study Group at St. John's Lutheran in Webster, where she worshiped regularly. Irene passed away on Thursday, July 30, 2009 at Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the age of 81 years, 6 months and 25 days. Survivors include one son, Craig (Sandy) Hemmah of Sundance, WY; four daughters, Judy Carr of Moberly, MO, Jean (Wayne) Nelson of Langford, SD, Coleen (Jim) Ford of Granite Falls, MN & Lori (Rob) Ronning of Little Falls, MN; a sister-in-law, Thelma Monshaugen of Webster, SD; twelve grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, three sisters, Ruby Gilbertson, Julia Gilbertson & Hazel Lardy and one brother, Alfred Monshaugen.