Berniece Eileen Timmons, age 88

Berniece Timmons

    Berniece Eileen Timmons passed away peacefully Tuesday, April 12, 2016, surrounded by her family at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Park Rapids, Minn.
    She was born Berniece Eileen Miller Sept. 5, 1927, to Walter and Kathryn (Judson) Miller in Viewfield, S.D. She grew up on the family ranch located north of New Underwood and attended a one–room school, Red Top Elementary. While attending New Underwood High School, she met and fell in love with her future husband, Tom Timmons. Tom was drafted and sent to Europe to fight in WWII. However, he miraculously found a way to call Bernice from France, where he was stationed and proposed marriage to her over the phone. While waiting for him to return home, she briefly taught at Red Top Elementary School in Viewfield.
    After his discharge, they were married by Father Quinn on Jan. 4, 1947, in New Underwood.
    For the next 25 years, Berniece was a homemaker and stay-at-home mom, dedicated to raising her four children. After the children were grown, she worked as the bookkeeper in the family business, The Crystal Lounge.
    After her husband’s death in October 2014, Berniece moved to Lake Itasca, Minn., to live with her daughter, Cathy.
    Berniece was a warm fun-loving woman who enjoyed visiting with friends, neighbors, and relatives. She was a devote Catholic and a member of the Catholic Daughters. She loved league bowling, sewing and was also a skilled artisan who loved painting and ceramics. However, her most beloved hobby was shopping, a love she passed on to her two daughters.
    Berniece is survived by her children, Tom and Pat, Koloa, Hawaii, Jill and Bob Miner, Las Vegas, Nev., Craig and Mae, Eugene, Ore., and Cathy and Charlie Schmidgall, Lake Itasca, Minn.; her sister, Joan Nichols; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
    She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years; her parents; sister, Evelyn Forney; her brother, Governor Walter Dale Miller; and two infant siblings, Mary Ellen and Glenn.
    A Mass of Christian burial celebrating her life was April 18, at St. Therese The Little Flower Catholic Church, Rapid City.. Berniece’s cremains will be buried next to her husband at Mountain View Cemetery.
    Her online guestbook is available to sign on the funeral home website, www.osheimschmidt. com.

The Pioneer Review

221 E. Oak Street
Philip, SD 57567
Telephone: (605) 859-2516
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