Wilma Stout, age 92

Wilma Stout

 

Wilma Stout, age 92, of Kadoka, S.D., died on Sunday, June 12, 2016 at the Kadoka Nursing Home.
Wilma Mae Gropper was born on June 19, 1923, to Herman and Ida (Odefy) Gropper. She moved to Cottonwood as an infant, then Belvidere, and spent her childhood south of the White River in the Red Stone Basin area herding turkeys and milk cows. She loved the country. She received elementary education in Washabaugh County, and later moved to Kadoka where she attended Kadoka High School and graduated in 1941. During these years, she delivered milk bottles from the Gropper diary to customers across Kadoka. Wilma remained in Kadoka where she did local waitress/drugstore clerk work.
Wilma united in marriage to Paul Brakke in Kadoka. Two children, Clee in 1950 and Kathy in 1954, were born to this union. They made their home in the local community where she continued working in town at the Junction Café, Petrified Gardens, Shamrock Motel, and Hopkins Econo-Mart with the exception of two years in the country near the Cactus Flats area. 
Wilma loved music, dancing to two-steps, polkas, waltzes and square dancing. She was also an avid rock hunter. 
Wilma was a faithful member of the Lions for many years, a 4-H leader, PTA, Extension Club, and a volunteer at the CAP office. Wilma found a second home in the country when daughter, Kathy,  married and moved southeast of Long Valley. 
Wilma loved the times helping at the ranch with the animals, the brandings, shearing sheep, moving cattle, planting trees, gardening and watching her grandsons grow and watching their sporting, hunting and rodeo events.
Paul  died in 1975, and Wilma continued to reside in Kadoka, working at Hopkins Drug Store and People’s Market. At the age of 78, she married Roy Stout on Dec. 7, 2002, until his passing on Feb. 29, 2005. 
Wilma was a welcomed, smiling, loyal employee to the thousands of customers she checked out on Kadoka’s main street and made many lifelong friends through this association. 
She enjoyed traveling to the southern states, Mexico, Branson, and many camping trips in the 1980s and 90s. Upon retirement, she volunteered countless hours at the CAP office,  often opening the office after hours for people in need who had lost belongings in house fires, etc. Wilma also spent much time on her riding lawn mower mowing her three lawns and spraying dandelions. She still spent considerable time in the country at the ranch watching her great-grandsons grow.
Due to the failing health and eyesight, Wilma entered the Kadoka Nursing Home in March of 2016. She passed away one week before her 93rd birthday after a short illness.
Survivors include a son, Clee Jay Brakke and his wife, Paula, of Milbank, and a daughter, Kathy Mansfield and her husband, Jim, of Norris; four grandchildren, James (Bridget) Mansfield, Jeremy (Tashina) Mansfield, Jay (Karen) Brakke and Carl (Kellie) Brakke; nine great-grandchildren, Alison, Mikayla, Clay, Mayson, Chays, Rayin, Amya, Wyatt and Ayden; a nephew, Tom Kerlin of Sturgis; and a sister-in-law, Florence Gropper of Kadoka.
In addition to her first husband, Paul Rodney Brakke, and her second husband, Roy Stout, Wilma was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Glen Gropper.
Visitation will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, at the Rush Funeral Chapel in Kadoka.
Services will be held 2:00 p.m. Friday, June 17, at the Kadoka City Auditorium.
Interment will be at the Kadoka Cemetery.
Arrangements are with Rush Funeral Home of Kadoka.

The Pioneer Review

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