Charlotte Hinricher Archives - Big Sioux Media Sports Network

Charlotte Hinricher

January 13, 2020 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Charlotte M. Hinricher, 92, of Dell Rapids, died of natural causes on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at the United Living Community in Brookings. Her Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 18, 2020 in St. Mary Catholic Church, Dell Rapids with Fr. John Lantsberger as the celebrant. Casketbearers are Elliot Hinricher, Court Hinricher, Sam Hinricher, Ben Hinricher, Michael Hinricher, Jr., Zachery Hinricher, Joseph Tonneson and Mathew Hinricher. Interment will be in the St. Mary Cemetery. Visitation with the family present will begin at 5:00 p.m. with the Christian Wake Service beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, January 17, 2020 at Kahler-Brende Funeral Home.
www.kahlerfh.com

Charlotte was born to Joseph Nicolaus Nemmers and Magdalen (nee) Roeder in Dell Rapids on July 14, 1927. She was the 12th of 13 farm children. She became motherless at age 11 when Magdalen died from tuberculosis. Her maternal aunt, Mary, helped raise and mentor her. She attended St. Mary Catholic Parish schools and graduated in 1945. Soon after, her oldest brother, Roman, paid for train fare to New York City (her first such trip abroad) so that she could stay with his family for an extended stay.

Charlotte met Robert Hinricher at a wedding dance. During this time, she tended for her father Joe’s home. Joe insisted that Bob be invited over for Sunday dinners, where they would enjoy one of Charlotte’s fresh-baked pies. They married one year later on September 5, 1949 in Dell Rapids. They honeymooned in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Together, they farmed for 11 years in Moody County before moving to Dell Rapids in 1960.

During this time before our current “farm-to-table” movement, she continued to process chickens, lard, and sweetcorn from relatives for the freezer, and canned applesauce, tomatoes, pickles, and jams.

Charlotte worked at Terrace Manor (now Dells Nursing and Rehab Center) from 1973 to 1997, growing in responsibility from a part-time cook, then head cook, to finally a certified dietician. For a decade of seasons, Bob and her helped run the Tonneson Farm pumpkin patch in Glyndon, MN. She also provided childcare for her grandsons Sam and Ben.

A devoted member of St. Mary Catholic Church her whole life, Charlotte was active in the Saint Theresa’s Altar Society Group and as a lay minister for Holy Communion. Bob and her typically said the rosary together before bedtime.

She was an avid pinochle player, jigsaw puzzle assembler, and reader of books. She was known for her beautiful penmanship, her many colorful flower beds, her large vegetable garden, her homemade sweet pickles, and especially her fruit pies.

Her love, generosity, cooking skills, and fond memories are survived by her elder brother Quintin Nemmers of Dell Rapids, SD; her daughter Kathy (Lon) Tonneson of Phoenix, AZ; her sons Terry of Newbury Park, CA, Ron of Woonsocket, SD, Earl (Melanie) of Forestburg, SD; Joe (Edie) of Dell Rapids, SD; Mike (Sharon) of Murfreesboro, TN, and Tim (Lisa) of New Prague, MN; her 16 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her mother and father; her brothers Urban, Aloysius, Roman, Fr. Leonard, Fr. Charles, Arnold, and John; her sisters Florence, Mary, Sr. Gertrude, and Sr. Helen; and her husband Robert.

Please send all cards and correspondence to the trustee, Earl Hinricher, 40473 221st Street, Forestburg, SD 57314.

Bob Hinricher

October 4, 2016 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Robert “Bob” Hinricher, 95, of Dell Rapids, passed away on Monday, October 3, 2016 at the Dells Nursing and Rehab Center. His Mass of Christian Burial will begin 10:30 a.m. on Monday, October 17, 2016 in St. Mary Catholic Church. Visitation on Sunday, October 16, 2016 will be from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The Christian Wake Service will begin at 4:00 p.m. with a rosary to follow in Kahler Funeral Home. On-line condolences may be left at the Kahler Funeral Home website.

On November 11, 1920 Robert (Bob) was born into the family of Frank and Helen (Reistoffer) Hinricher near Granville, Iowa. He was the oldest of 6 children. The family moved to the Colman area in South Dakota where he finished 8th grade at the Colman Country School. At age twelve, his mother passed away. For a short time, he lived with his grandma Mary Reistoffer. His help was needed on the farm and the neighbor’s farm which kept him from going to high school. He worked for many businesses and farmers in the area. As a teenager, Bob traveled from South Dakota to Texas, through Colorado by boxcar with other hobos, while trying to reach his Uncle Joe in California. But he ended up in Wyoming where he picked corn by hand, broke horses, branded cattle, sheared sheep, cut timber and built log cabins. He changed teams of 16 horses for the Wyoming Mail Express.

He served in the 10th Army Air Force in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1946 attached to the 1st Combat Cargo Squadron and the 326th Troop Carrier Squadron. His Squadron received “Presidential Unit Citation” distinguished service on January 29, 1944 as part of the India-China Wing.

Robert’s 21st birthday was one month before Pearl Harbor was bombed and United States entered World War II. Robert immediately enlisted in the Army and was assigned first as an observer/radio operator on the West Coast where they were guarding against an invasion by Japan, and then to Karachi, India, as a C-47 cargo plane navigator/radio operator. He flew 30 missions over the Himalayas, delivering gasoline and other materials to resupply the Chinese war effort against Japan and for the U.S. Army Air Corps based in India. Flying over “The Hump,” as airmen called the Eastern Himalayas, was extremely dangerous and was made more difficult by the lack of reliable charts, an absence of radio navigation aids and a dearth of information about the weather. More than 1,000 men and 600 planes were lost by the end of the airlift. Bob told his family about the many near-misses he experienced and the friends he lost in the campaign.

After the war, Robert returned to Dell Rapids. He met Charlotte Nemmers at a wedding dance and married her one year later on September 5, 1949. They rented the first of three farms and started a family. The family moved to Dell Rapids in 1960 where Robert worked as a carpenter, feed salesman and mechanic. At one time, he operated gas stations in Sioux Falls. He loved to read books, playing cards and going fishing. He is a long time member of Dell Rapids American Legion and St Mary Catholic Church of Dell Rapids. He was honored by St Mary School by giving him an honorary diploma. In his retirement, Bob loved to work on his sons’ farms and his daughters’ melon and pumpkin patch and enjoyed selling the produce to ladies who were amazed at his mental calculations at the age of 80. He provided daycare with his wife Charlotte for his two grandsons. He loved gardening and growing grapes to provide produce for Charlotte to can and freeze.

Robert will be remembered for his life’s values: any work (no matter how hard) is good work, always be honest, keep your word even if it’s to your disadvantage, give to charity, and don’t take advantage of people by charging interest or raising prices.

Robert died on October 3, 2016 at Dell Rapids Rehab and Nursing Center. He died from complications of old age. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte, Dell Rapids, SD; his daughter Kathy (Lon) Tonneson, Glyndon, MN; his sons Terry, Thousand Oaks, CA; Ron, Woonsocket, SD; Earl (Melanie), Forestburg, SD; Joe (Edie), Dell Rapids, SD; Mike, Hendersonville, TN; Tim (Lisa), New Prague, MN; and 18 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren; his sister Evelyn Weinacht, Dell Rapids, SD; his brothers Elmer (Betty), Flandreau, SD; Omer, Aurora, CO. Sister-in-law Eva, Knoxville, IA and his brother-in-law Quintin Nemmers, Dell Rapids, SD.

He was preceded in death by his parents Helen and Frank, brothers Andrew and Norbert, sisters-in-law Bernice Hinricher, Florence Ginsbach, Mary Page, Sr. Gertrude Nemmers, Sr. Helen Nemmers, Fern Nemmers and brothers-in-law Mike Weinacht, Roman Nemmers, Fr. Charles Nemmers, Fr. Leonard Nemmers, John Nemmers, Arnold Nemmers.

He is grateful in spending his life with his wife and his extended family, especially his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The family invites you for coffee-lunch-refreshments following the committal rites at the cemetery.

Sister Helen Nemmers

November 7, 2015 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Sister Helen Nemmers, 93, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, died November 3, 2015 at Presentation Convent, Aberdeen, SD. Mass of Resurrection will be 11:00 a.m., Monday, November 9, 2015 at Blessed Sacrament Chapel, Presentation Convent, Aberdeen, SD. Reverend Joseph Sheehan, celebrant and homilist. Visitation from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m., Sunday, with a liturgical wake at 7:00 p.m. at Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 S Main Street, Aberdeen is in charge of arrangements. Burial will be at Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery. Condolences may be left at www.spitzerfuneralhome.com.

Helen Catherine was born May 20, 1922 to Magdelene (Roeder) and Joseph Nemmers in Granville, IA. She attended St. Mary’s elementary and high school in Dell Rapids, graduating in 1940. Helen Catherine entered Presentation Convent September 1, 1941 and made her first profession of vows August 10, 1944.

Sister Helen (once known as Sister Urban) earned a Bachelor of Music Education and History degree at Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI in 1963 and a Master of Music Education degree at Catholic University of America, Washington, DC in 1970. She taught music and choir at schools in Humboldt, Aberdeen, Madison, Sioux Falls and Dell Rapids, SD plus Willmar and Anoka, MN from 1945 until 1977. She was director of Religious Education at Guadalupe Parish, St. Paul MN (1979-1980). In 1980 Sister Helen went to Guerrero, Mexico where she served as a catechetical missionary for 17 years. In 2002-2007 Sister Helen became part of the team working at Caminando Juntos, the Hispanic ministry in Sioux Falls. She retired to the motherhouse in Aberdeen in 2009. Sister Helen co-authored two books “17 Years in Mexico” and “17 Years in Mexico: A History in Pictures”.

Sister Helen is survived by her community family of Presentation Sisters, one sister Charlotte Nemmers Hinricher, one brother, Quintin, Dell Rapids, SD and many nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents Magdelene and Joseph Nemmers, three sisters, Mary Page, Florence Ginsbach, Sister Gertrude Nemmers, PBVM, and seven brothers, Reverend Leonard, Reverend Charles, Urban, Aloysious, Arnold, Roman, and John Nemmers.

Sister Gertrude Nemmers

March 10, 2013 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Sister Gertrude Nemmers, 97, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, died March 7, 2013, at Presentation Convent, Aberdeen, SD.

The Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Gertrude will be Monday, March 11 at

11:00 a.m., in Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Presentation Convent, Aberdeen, SD. Reverend Joseph Sheehan, will be celebrant and homilist. A wake service will be Sunday, March 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Burial will be at the Sacred Heart Cemetery with Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 S. Main Street, in charge of arrangements.

Clara Agnes was born March 15, 1915 in Granville, IA to Magdelena (Roeder) and Joseph Nemmers. She began her grade school education in Granville, IA and then in 1924 her family moved to Dell Rapids, SD where she completed her education through grade ten at St. Mary’s Grade and High School. She entered Presentation Convent on August 25, 1932 and made her first profession of vows on July 9, 1935. She became a registered X-Ray & EKG Technician in 1940. Sister Gertrude ministered at Queen of Peace (St. Joseph Hospital), Mitchell, McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, and St. Luke’s in Aberdeen, SD (1945- 1960). She also ministered at Presentation Children’s Home in Sioux Falls from 1965-1966. She managed the altar bread department at the convent in Aberdeen from 1966-1989. Sister Gertrude was caregiver for family members, Arnold in Tucson, AZ and Florence Ginsbach, Dell Rapids, SD, from 1989 until 2007.

Sister Gertrude resided at Presentation Convent from 2007 until her death. She will be remembered for her great sense of humor and when asked what her position or profession was she would reply, “Keeping my eye on the eternal goal.” She enjoyed making birthday and feast day cards, delighting the recipients and then eagerly awaiting their responses.

Sister Gertrude is survived by her community of Presentation Sisters; 2 sisters, Sister Helen, PBVM, Aberdeen, SD; Charlotte Hinricher, Dell Rapids, SD; and 1 brother, Quintin, Dell Rapids, SD. She is preceded in death by her parents, Magdelena and Joseph, 2 sisters, Florence Ginsbach, Dell Rapids, SD, Mary Page, Sioux Falls and 7 brothers: Roman, Aloys, Father Charles, John, Father Leonard, Arnold and Urban Nemmers.

Nephews: Tom, Steve, Joe, Robert, David Nemmers, Joe Hinricher, Paul Ginsbach and David Weibel will serve as casket bearers. www.spitzerfuneralhome.com