Mass of Christian Burial for Kay Ginther, age 46, of Lemmon, SD will be on Friday, March 18, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lemmon, SD. Fr. Tony Grossenburg will officiate and burial will follow at Greenhill Cemetery in Lemmon. Visitation will be from 1:00 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon, followed by a Rosary/Vigil service at the Church at 7:00 p.m.


Serving as casketbearers are her nephews, Dusty Hourigan, Lance Hourigan, Andrew Sackmann, Justin Schopp, Jeff Rutz, JaCoebi Moore and Wyatt Huffman (Kay's Godson). All of Kay's nieces, friends and family are honorary casketbearers.


Kayleen Ann Schopp was born July 29th 1964 in Lemmon, SD to Fred and Beverly (Becker) Schopp. She grew up on the family ranch near Athboy SD, where she attended the Athboy Country School through the 8th grade. Kay began her high school years in Lemmon at the local high school where she graduated from in 1982. Throughout her school years she was active in 4-H and enjoyed playing basketball. She loved life on the ranch and working with her family where she developed skills and a work ethic that would last a lifetime.


She attended Black Hills State University for a year before returning to Lemmon where she worked at the Ben Franklin for a short time. On May 18th 1985 she was united in marriage to Mike Ginther at a beautiful outdoor service in the Black Hills. They worked together at everything they did, from planting trees in Arkansas to operating a large, mountain ranch and sawmill in Arizona, even building an airplane in which Mike learned to fly. She helped with logging, skidding, and was on the other end of every board that came off the sawmill.


She was a skilled horsewoman and rode on every roundup in extremely rough terrain, all while living hours from town with no electricity or telephone. In 1988 they returned to the Ginther ranch north of Lemmon following Mike's father's sudden death. They ran the ranch together all while starting a woodworking business there. In 1989 their son Weston Ray was born in Hettinger, ND. Shortly after moving to Spearfish, SD, Jessica Jean was born in 1992 while Mike was pursuing a commercial flying job. They returned to the ranch and the woodworking business that same year. The ranch and family both grew strong together with the love and nurturing of Kay. She was a perfectionist with her woodworking and was a meticulous bookkeeper.


Her hobby and life's ambition was taking care of and spending time with her family. She enjoyed attending the kids' sporting events, school and church activities, horseback riding and playing cards with her family. She was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in July of 2007. Throughout her three and a half year courageous battle she became an inspiration to everyone she met. She endured much suffering with dignity, all while continuing to care for her family. She passed from this life with her family at her side Sunday morning March 13th, at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, ND.


Holding Kay's memory most near and dear are her husband, Mike Ginther, their son, Weston, their daughter, Jessie, all of Lemmon, SD; her parents, Fred and Bev Schopp, of Meadow, SD; her brother, Ray (Julie) Schopp, of Meadow; her sisters, Laurie (Dan) Hoff, of Lemmon, Connie (Bob) Hourigan, of Thunder Hawk, SD and Jan Schopp, of Belle Fourche, SD; her mother-in-law, Martha Jean (Ginther) Peterson (Blair) and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and a host friends.


Kay was preceded in death by her grandparents on both sides, a sister, Sherry Schopp and her father-in-law, Pete Ginther.


In lieu of flowers, a Memorial will be established by her family.