Obituary of Helen M. Severson

Helen M. Severson, age 93 of rural Volin, SD passed away Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015 at Avera Sister James Care Center, Yankton, SD. Funeral services will be 10:30 AM, Saturday, April 11, 2015 at Vangen Lutheran Church in Mission Hill, SD with Rev. Phil Lint officiating. Burial will be in the Vangen Lutheran Cemetery. Visitations will be from 5-8:30 PM, Friday, April 10, 2015 at the Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home and Crematory, Yankton with a 7 PM Prayer service. Visitations will resume one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements are under the care of the Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home and Crematory, Yankton. Helen was born March 2, 1922, to Alfred and Huldah (Peterson) Hoxeng near Volin, SD. She attended grade school at Pleasant Valley School, rural Volin. Her family was active in church activities at Zion Lutheran Church (now named Faith United Lutheran Church), also in rural Volin. When her family moved to Washington State, so her father could look for work in the lumber industry, Helen elected to stay in South Dakota and attend Augustana Academy, a Lutheran High School boarding school in Canton, SD. There she met her future husband, Mel Severson. After graduating from high school, she attended Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, studying for a degree in elementary education. After completing her junior year of college, she and Mel decided to get married, as it appeared that he would be sent overseas by the Army Air Force, and she was adamant that they should marry before he went, so that, in her words, "He would be certain there would be someone here for him when he came home." She took the train from South Dakota to Manchester, New Hampshire, sitting on her suitcase in the aisle most of the way because of the many military personnel traveling. Helen and Mel were married June 18, 1943. When Mel was shipped overseas in the fall of 1944, Helen returned to live in Yankton near her parents. When Mel returned, they lived in the Volin area on Helen's parents' homestead farm, with a few years in the DeSmet area. When they returned from DeSmet, the family joined Vangen Lutheran Church in Mission Hill, SD. Helen put her elementary education to good use, raising her children, being a farm wife, folk dancing with Sons of Norway, serving in various capacities at her church, visiting the hospitalized and homebound, visiting neighbors, and doing various kinds of needlework, including a Scandinavian needlework called hardanger. After her husband's death in 2006, Helen moved to an apartment in Yankton, to Majestic Bluffs Assisted Living in 2012, and to Sister James Nursing Home in 2013. Blessed to have shared her life are daughters: Valerie Philipp of Madison, SD, Velma Larson of Volin, SD, Valborg Severson of Yankton, SD, Vi (Jim) Ramsey of Cape Town, South Africa; son, Mark Severson of Gulfport, MS; 17 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews, one brother-in law; and special friend, April Peterson of Stickney, SD. Helen was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Mel in 2006, daughter, Virginia in 1965, sons, Paul in 1982 and Joe in 1991, brothers Julian, Milton, and Raymond, sister, Hannah, son-in-law, Phillip Larson, and daughter-in-law, Rita (Rieck) Severson.