Olive Toews, age 92, of Iroquois, passed away Sunday, October 12, 2025, at the Good Samaritan Society at De Smet.

View Olive's Funeral Folder

Her funeral service was held at 10:30 AM, Thursday, October 16, at the Faith Mennonite Church, rural Iroquois. Burial was in the Faith Mennonite Church Cemetery.

Visitation was held from 2:00 to 3:00 PM, Wednesday, October 15, at the Kuhler Funeral Home, and then continued from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Faith Mennonite Church.

Olive Anna (Wohlgemuth) Toews was born to John and Martha (Wiebe) Wohlgemuth on March 5, 1933, in Steinbach, Manitoba.

As a child, she lived in the Clear Springs area near Steinbach where she attended school. Growing up in a family of 11, which included 6 boys and 5 girls, had many advantages. They enjoyed singing together with their own little 'youth group' right in the home. Mom's grandmother also lived with them and became part of their home.

Mom gave her heart to the Lord and was baptized into the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite on June 8, 1947, by Minister Frank Wenger. She was faithful to her commitment to the end.

As a young lady, Mom enjoyed her time of working as a licensed practical nurse. She worked during the polio epidemic caring for patients who were confined to the iron lung.

On June 11, 1957, Mom married James Toews and moved to the South Dakota prairies. Dad and Mom shared the joys and sorrows of life for 61 years. One highlight of their lives was volunteering at the Rochester Guest Home where lasting friendships were made.

Cooking, baking buns, making many Christmas goodies, gardening which included planting peanuts, huckleberries, or miniature Indian corn, enjoying nature, and doing handwork- knitting, crocheting, quilting - were all enjoyed as long as health and eye sight permitted. She made our growing up years special in little ways. She liked to sit on the couch and sing with us.

They were blessed with good neighbors throughout their lives- first of all while living in the Bancroft area, then the Yale area, then the Meadow Lane Villa in Osceola, and last of all in the Good Samaritan Center in De Smet.

Family gatherings were a highlight. Last Christmas seemed extra special. She loved her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and had a concern for our spiritual salvation.

A special thank you to all the care givers in her sunset years! Mom passed away on October 12, 2025, at the Good Samaritan Center in De Smet, SD, at the age of 92 years.

Left with many good memories are her children, Wesley, De Smet, SD (his fiancée Carol Litwiller, Perrinton, MI), Valerie and Delton Wiebe, Yale, SD, Edith and Rodney Yost, Iroquois, SD, Murray and Shanon, Yale, SD, and Brian and Nan, Yale, SD; 16 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; her sister: Frances Goossen, Grandview, MB; her sisters-in-law, Darleen Wohlgemuth, Bredenbury, SK, Libby Wohlgemuth, Oak Lake, MB, Betty Penner, De Smet, SD, and Clara Toews, Hillsboro, KS; and a host of relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; her parents-in-law; her daughter-in-law, Linda Toews; 6 brothers; 3 sisters; 7 sisters-in-law; and 7 brothers-in-law.

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