Service of Remembrance for Nellie Stuit, 100, of Lodgepole, SD will be held on Friday, July 9, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at the Holland Center Church south of Lodgepole, SD. Rev. Brad Burkhalter will officiate and burial will follow at the Hettinger Cemetery in Hettinger, ND. Visitations will be from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 8 at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service on Friday morning at the church. A Family Service will be on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Hettinger.


Nellie Wieringa was born on Feb. 6, 1910 in Winnerweerd, Netherlands, the third of four children (3 girls and a boy) born to Eppe and Ettje (Vander Veen) Wieringa. Her baptized name was Pieterke which confused emigration authorities enough to wrongly identify her as a male when the Wieringa family emigrated to the U.S. aboard the ship Rotterdam. The family left in August of 1921 and eventually arrived at Hospers, Iowa.


Nellie was a young lass of 11 when the family settled on a farm northwest from Hospers, so she was required to attend school in the new country. She was enrolled at Hospers Christian and graduated from the 8th grade in 1924. She immediately went to work doing household duties for neighbors and proved to be a hard worker.


Nellie married Albert Stuit from Lodgepole, South Dakota in a double wedding with sister Greta and Harold LeFebre, also from Lodgepole. The wedding ceremony took place in December of 1938 in a lovely farm home northwest from Hospers. The newlyweds bade good-bye to their parents and immediately went back to the Dakotas where they took up ranching and farming in the Lodgepole area. Nellie was always proud of the role she played in operating the farm with her husband.


Nellie was a member of the Holland Center Christian Reformed Church and faithfully participated in the programs of the church. She gained recognition for her famous apple pies which were shared by many of the congregation as well as residents of the Lodgepole area.


In the 1970's Albert and Nellie retired and moved into Hettinger, ND. Albert passed away in 1982 and in 1999 Nellie became a resident of the Hillcrest Care Center, now the Western Horizons Care Center in Hettinger. There she busied herself in the help and care she could give to other residents.


During the later stages of her life she was bothered by failing eyesight and limited mobility. But her resolve never wavered and her faith in a loving, caring God remained.


Nellie responded thankfully to the care and concern shown by her nephews and nieces Allan and Jody and Rod and Mary LeFebre as well as by a number of friends and neighbors.


Nellie passed away at the Western Horizons Care Center in Hettinger, ND on Tuesday, July 6, 2010.

In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by her sisters Jessie and Greta and a brother, Henry.


Left to cherish her memory are a number of nephews and nieces.