Phyllis Pearson, 87, of rural Lemmon, SD passed away at the Faulkton Senior Living Center in Faulkton, SD on Monday, June 3, 2024.
Mass of Christian Burial for Phyllis will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 13, 2024 at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Lemmon, SD. Fr. Jim Hoerter will officiate with burial to follow in the Greenhill Cemetery in Lemmon.
Visitation will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon, SD. A rosary/vigil service will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Lemmon.
Phyllis Marie (Jones) Pearson was born August 7, 1936 to John Paul and Marcella (Mollman) Jones in Morristown, SD. She attended Morristown and McIntosh schools for her elementary years. She graduated from St. Mary’s High School in New England, ND in 1954. After graduation from high school, she started working at the Bank of Lemmon. She then worked for the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company.
She met her husband, Donald, through her best friend, Pat, Don’s sister. Phyllis and Donald were married in 1957 and shared 66 years of marriage. They spent most of those years on the ranch south of Thunder Hawk, SD where they raised cattle and horses and grew small grains.
Phyllis and Donald adopted their daughter, Barbara, in 1968. Phyllis was also a second mom to many young people who stayed and worked on the ranch. She loved and cared for each of them. During conversations this spring, she remembered their favorite foods, who put away their clean laundry, and who kept her up until the wee hours of the morning when they didn’t come home when expected. She also had fond memories of the time she spent with her little neighbor girl, Chelsea.
Phyllis enjoyed her life on the ranch and her kitchen was always a welcome place for neighbors and family. Phyllis’ faith was the foundation for her life. She spent countless hours volunteering at her church and praying for others. She frequently shared stories of the School Sisters of Notre Dame who were her teachers at New England, St. Mary’s. Over the years, she was a religious ed teacher for CCD and RCIA, she helped with Koinonia Retreats and was a member of the Catholic Daughters of America. She loved gardening, canning the produce from her garden, baking bread, reading mystery books, and beating everyone in Scrabble. Phyllis loved to hear the song of a meadowlark and smell of the soil when she tilled her garden in the spring. After Phyllis and Don moved to town, Phyllis enjoyed playing cards with friends, attending daily mass, and visits with neighbors. In 2014, Phyllis and Don were the Boss Cowman Honorees. Phyllis did not enjoy the spotlight of this honor, but she loved riding in the buggy pulled by a team of horses that year and the next. Phyllis donated to many charitable causes and always supported Mahpiya Luta-Red Cloud Indian School and Forever Families Adoption.
The joys of her life were her four grandchildren and her great grandson. She welcomed her grandchildren to her home for days and sometimes weeks at a time. She taught them to bake bread and caramel rolls and make jelly. She made them special birthday cakes and the kids usually wanted angel food cakes or brownies. Her favorite story to tell about the grandkids was that almost every day, someone “accidentally” fell in the creek but amazingly, they had taken off their shoes. Some of her last smiles were when she told the grandkids this story and when she got to see her great grandson when the whole family gathered two weeks before her passing.
Phyllis was proceeded in death by her parents, John Paul and Marcella Jones, brother Arthur Jones, sister Dora Jones, and sister Lucille Thomas. `
Grateful for having shared in her life are her husband, Donald Pearson, of Lemmon, SD; her daughter Barbara Pearson-Cramer and son in-law, Trevor Cramer, of Faulkton SD; four grandchildren, Taylor, Teralyn, Trisha and Garrett Cramer; one great grandchild, Ezekiel Cramer; and many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers a memorial has been established through Forever Families Adoption.
