Barbara Olson Wanstedt was born June 22, 1935, in Lemmon, South Dakota to Harry Olson and Alice Quammen Olson. She passed away April 24, 2024 at Belle Estate in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.
Barb attended Lemmon High School where she was a cheerleader, played flute and piccolo, sang in several choirs, along with participating in many other school activities. She then went on to Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota where she continued her band activities and received her Bachelor of Science in Education. Barb spent many summers at the family cabin in Spearfish Canyon and working in the Black Hills at the original Spearfish Canyon Lodge. After college graduation, she taught for one year at Springfield HS in Springfield, Minnesota.
Barb married Jack Wanstedt on June 8, 1958, in Lemmon and they began their life together on the farm south of Keldron, South Dakota. Barbara quickly learned to be a farm/ranch wife with all that entails. Daughter Kristen was born in 1959 with son Scott born in 1962.
Along with the endless duties of farming and ranching, Barb was also active as a 4-H leader, Lemmon School Board, FmHA Board, West River HMO Board, Bethel Lutheran Ladies Aid, Lemmon Rural Lutheran Church council, and was a Community First Bank board member. She was honored as a 70-year PEO member (Chapters AH and L) in 2023. Barb loved her needlework: sewing, knitting, and many different types of embroidery. She was also a great cook and loved to feed anyone that came to visit.
When Barb and Jack retired, they moved full time to their cabin in Spearfish Canyon where they were both very active with the Spearfish Canyon Volunteer Fire Department, Spearfish Canyon Homeowners Association, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, and Immanuel Lutheran Church. They spent several winters in Arizona with their RV and traveled to Alaska (twice), thru the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Norway (twice) and Sweden.
Barb was very proud of her Norwegian and Swedish ancestry, meeting several relatives in Norway and Sweden and attending Quammen family reunions in Minnesota. Ole Quammen, founder of Lemmon’s Petrified Wood Park was her great-grandfather.
Barb was preceded in death by her parents, Harry and Alice Olson and her in-laws, Cameron and Agnes Wanstedt. She is survived by her husband of almost 66 years, Jack Wanstedt, daughter, Kristen (Sam) Jones of College Station, TX, and son, Scott (Patsy) Wanstedt of Spearfish. She is also survived by her sister, Marilyn Olson, grandchildren Karissa (Mike) Barragan, Kelli (Greg) MacAfee, Heather (Hastin) Boulger, Blake (Samantha) Wanstedt, and 7 great-grandchildren: Alice, Lucy, and Henry Barragan, Margaret and Molly MacAfee, and Lincoln and Reagan Boulger. Barb was also greatly loved by Mike and Danni Beer, who took over the family farm.
The family thanks the wonderful care of Belle Estate in Belle Fourche and Stillwater Hospice. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Barb’s memory to Spearfish Canyon Volunteer Fire Department, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lemmon Petrified Wood Park and Museum, or the charity of your choice.
Church services will be held at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Whitewood, SD at 11:00 AM on Saturday, May 11th, 2024, with internment at a later date. Services will also be live-streamed on the church YouTube channel.
