Mass of Christian Burial for Dorothy Mells, age 83, of McLaughlin will be 10:30 AM, CT, Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at the St. Aloysious Catholic Church in Bullhead. Burial will be at the church cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge. Visitation will be Tuesday at 6 PM, CT and prayer service at 7 PM, CT at the Kesling Funeral Home. Dorothy passed away Thursday, May 26, 2011 at the Mobridge Regional Hospital.

Dorothy (DeRockbraine) Mells was born to Thomas and Josephine (Hawk) DeRockbraine on December 20, 1927 in Bullhead, SD. She attended school in Bullhead, SD and married Benjamin Melk in 1954 and to this union they had one child named Colleen. Dorothy worked in various areas in her younger life. One of her many jobs was working at an artillery ammunition center. For a brief period in 1967- 1968, she lived and worked in Minneapolis, Minnesota and worked there.

Dorothy also raised two granddaughter's Shelley Mells- Sitting Dog and Candi DeRockbraine- Folley. She moved to McIntosh, SD later so that her children could attend school there. She was a homemaker for most of her life. Dorothy loved her children and grandchildren very much. She was a very special mother, aunt, and grandmother to all and will be dearly missed.

Dorothy is survived by Colleen (Gary) Buckley, Joseph (Alice) Picotte, and Kathleen Parmley.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Ben, two children who passed away in infancy, David and Shirley, four sisters, and one brother.