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Rosalene Pesicka Obituary

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Rosalene Pesicka

Lake Andes, SD

April 27, 1933 - December 27, 2019

Rosalene Pesicka Obituary

Surrounded by many loving family members, Rosalene Mary Pesicka, 86, of Lake Andes, SD passed away December 27, 2019 at Avera McKennan Hospital, Sioux Falls SD. Funeral service will be Saturday, January 4 at 10:30 am at the First Presbyterian Church in Lake Andes with burial to follow at 2:00 pm at the Inman Cemetery at Inman, Nebraska. Visitation will be Friday, January 3 from 5 to 7 pm at Koehn Bros. Funeral Home in Lake Andes. Rosalene Mary (Carl) Pesicka was born on April 27, 1933 to John and Evelie (Snyder) Carl rural O’Neill, Nebraska. She attended Rural School Dist 136 and graduated from O’Neill Public School, 1951. She married Louis F Pesicka on March 5, 1951 at Sioux City, Iowa. To this union nine children were born. Rosalene loved her family and farm life, raising her children as her primary objective. Among her many very talented, perfected & greatly enjoyed projects – she was a superb and accomplished seamstress, sewing up-to-date fashions for her children and other family members. She was the family hair stylist, keeping up with the latest through magazines depicting haircuts and styles of the current time. She loved crocheting and made many beautiful doilies. Tending house plants was an ongoing project throughout her entire life. She loved baking and cooking. Any new idea was a challenge and another accomplishment. She was active with costume making and performing in a parent involved small play held in the Ravinia School. She assisted in float building during her employment with the Community Action Program. The Louis Pesicka Family rented and moved to many different farms throughout the first fourteen years and within those multiple neighborhoods gained many close life-time friends. Rosalene personally initiated and completed handyman projects and major reconstruction as she felt needed done within the many family dwellings and especially in her current home. How she wanted it - - it got done!! Rosalene was totally involved tending the strictly regimented dairy operation… she spent many years, milking by hand (eventually converting to the automated system) and raising calves. Cows were pets with names such as, Buttercup, Wildie, Suzy, Jersey and many more! Raising hogs and chickens………The rooster Chasey was feared by adults and kids, eventually ending up as chicken noodle soup enjoyed by all!! The Pesickas not only raised pullets, for laying hens and gathering eggs, but annually around 300 roosters and made the butchering and plucking feathers a family event with Grandma Evelie and any others that were there at the time willing to pitch in and help. This turned out to be a 2100 chicken plucking project with family and friends during a more recent year! There were many pet dogs and cats and most recent, her special Yorkie fur baby, Holly Berry. A lot of hard work that was outweighed by those many times when everyone got the giggles and laughed until they cried, especially during those treasured family gatherings with the sisters, brother, much beloved cousins, in- laws and friends. After Grandpa Jim Carl’s passing in Jan 1957, she never missed a Memorial Day gathering with the many family members and friends in O’Neill/Inman Nebraska until May 2019 due to the extreme flooding that wiped out the Spencer Dam. She began working during 1966 with Head Start in the Ravinia School and after her youngest child started school, she went to work on a very cold wintry day in January 1970 as a secretary/bookkeeper for South Central Community Action Program. While working there, she became Administration Business Manager, Fiscal Manager for South Central Child Development, Inc. Head Start Program, Wagner SD. During this time, she was also actively working with Planning and Development, Yankton SD. She worked professionally for 32 years retiring in 2002. During retirement, Rosalene had more time for her numerous hobbies, outdoor flower gardening and landscaping. She loved to mow, still personally mowing her lawn during this past summer. She always grew a vegetable garden, her established rhubarb(transplanted from her childhood home) and asparagus patches were especially bountiful! She had a small orchard north of the house, various types of apple trees and a couple pear trees. She loved cooking for drop in family and friends and hosting family gatherings, both small impromptu gatherings and major holiday events. She even hosted family weddings! And she always wanted to closely supervise or do it herself and especially most of the cooking by herself. If she didn’t do it! it wasn’t done right!! She was a Life Member of Lake Andes VFW Auxiliary #3239. Thankful for having shared her life are: daughter, Diane Eldridge, Lake Andes SD, son, Michael “Mickey” (Tracy) Pesicka, Lake Andes SD, daughter, Cheryl Pesicka-Chapman, Rapid City SD, son, Perry (Colleen) Pesicka, Lake Andes SD and daughter, Carla Pesicka, Lake Andes SD. Eleven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. One sister, Eileen Uthe, Presho SD, one sister-in-law, Evelyn Patocka, Lake Andes SD and numerous nieces and nephews. Rosalene was preceded in death by her husband, Louis, an infant son and three infant daughters, her parents, John & Evelie Carl, Wagner SD, brother, Jerry Carl, Yankton SD, sisters, Jeanette Stoebner, Delmont SD and Patricia Hoffman, Platte, SD, four sons-in-law, Scott DeGeest, Denver CO, John Eldridge, Lake Andes SD, Kevin (Radar) Lehmann, Lake Andes SD and James Chapman, Rapid City SD. She was a beautiful, strong person, a wife, mother, sibling, friend and will be greatly missed. She leaves behind a legacy of cherished memories to her family and friends.

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