Melonia "Babe" Giesel, age 57, of Huron, passed away Saturday, January 5, 2019, at the Huron Regional Medical Center, surrounded by her special friends and family. Acelebration of life was held at 1:00 PM, Thursday, June 13, 2019 at the Kuhler Funeral Home with her family present. Burial will be in theEarlville Cemetery, at Burr Oak Township.
Melonia Lea Giesel was born June 27, 1961, to Willard Herbert and Sherry Crile (Kelly) Giesel at Miller. When Babe was a year old, the family relocated to the Wilmer, Minnesota area to be near the Rochester Hospital where Babe was receiving medical care. In 1973, the family returned to Highmore where she attended Highmore High School. In 1981, she made Huron her home.
Throughout the years, Babe shared her compassion for others by working as a Certified Nursing Assistant at the Wessington Springs Nursing Home, Violet Tschetter Memorial Home and SunQuest Health Care Center. At one time, she was also employed at the Huron Regional Medical Center as a cook.
Babe was like a fish in the water, spending the majority of her free time in the summers taking the neighborhood children to the pool and fishing at the lake. She enjoyed the outdoors and spending time with friends and family around bonfires in the evenings. She loved caring for injured or lost animals and was known to give a stray kitten a home at times. She was a social butterfly with a caring heart. She was a good friend and will be remembered as Auntie Babe by many children.
She was preceded in death by her father, Willard Giesel on January 5, 1996 and her mother, Sherry Kelly on February 10, 2010.
Grateful for having shared in her life are her three sisters, Sonia, and her husband, Dan Sullivan of Moorhead, Minnesota, Heather Matheny of Marietta, Ohio and Dawn Rushdan of Blytheville, Arkansas; her long time friend Vaughn Ransom and his son, Brad Ransom; along with many nieces and nephews.