Faith, SD Nellie E. Ross

Funeral Services for Nellie E. Ross, 98, Faith, and former longtime Redelm area ranch wife will be Monday, Nov. 1, 2004 at 10:30 AM at the Faith United Methodist Church. Pastor Paul Smith will officiate and interment will be in the Redelm Cemetery. A memorial has been established. Visitations will be Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m. at Faith Area Memorial Chapel and one hour prior to the service at the church.

Mrs. Ross passed away Tuesday evening, Oct. 26 at the Belle Fourche Long Term Care Center where she had resided the past four years.

Nellie E. Ross was born March 9, 1906 at Gettysburg, SD to Daniel C. and Bertha (Cowles) Baker. In 1922 the Baker family moved to the Chance area of Perkins Co., by team and wagon. Nellie grew up there and in the Redelm, SD area of Ziebach Co. after the family located there in 1920. During her teen years she worked in Redelm for the Sejnoha Grocery Store.

On Oct. 20, 1925 she was married to Lawrence Ross near Faith, SD and they homesteaded a place 5 miles northwest of Redelm and in 1942 they moved to his parents place a mile and a half southeast of Redelm. There they raised livestock and farmed, raising their family of six children.

The Ross family lost their home and their daughter, Darlene in a fire in April of 1944 and at the same time Nellie cared for five small nieces and nephews whose mother had passed away. Their home then consisted of three small buildings on the place and Nellie continued to care for her own family and her youngest nephew for two years. In the spring of 1962 she lost her daughter Ruth, son in law Delbert Pooley and granddaughter Sharon in a tragic accident, and Nellie cared for their remaining daughter, Sandi for a time.

Nellie served on the Redelm School Board, was a 4-H leader for several years, and was active in Ziebach Co. Extension Homemakers and the Redelm Goodwill Club. She was named Citizen of the Year and Grand Lady of Ziebach Co. Extension in the late 1960's. Mr. Ross passed away suddenly in 1968 and with her sons taking over the farming and ranching operations, Nellie moved to Faith and there continued her caregiving to the Bruce Birkeland children who had lost their mother.

In Faith, she was instrumental in organizing the Faith Senior Citizen Center, took adult education courses to receive her GED and completed an E.M.T. course. She also was a member of the Rebecca Lodge, Lucky Star Extension Club, American Legion Auxiliary and the Faith Ladies Medical Organization. Nellie always felt her greatest reward was the friendship and love of family and of those she came to know over the years.

Grateful for sharing her life are her sons; Harold and Joan Ross of Sturgis, Raymond and Betty Ross of Faith, daughters; Alice and Earl Capp of Nisland and Dale and Brock Starr of Antelope, CA, 15 grand children, 30 great grandchildren and five great great grandchildren. Preceding her in death were her parents, husband, two daughters, a granddaughter, two sisters and one brother.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Faith Area Memorial Chapel, and Funeral Home of the Northern Hills, Eldon Jensen Family "Funeral Homes of Caring."