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Funeral services for Phyllis Stiegelmeier, 88, of Selby will be at 10:30 AM, Tuesday, February 4, 2020, at the United Methodist Church in Selby. Burial will be at the Selby Memorial Gardens under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge. Visitation will start at 5 PM with a prayer service at 7 PM Monday at the church. Phyllis passed away Sunday, January 26, 2020, at the Mobridge Regional Hospital.

Phyllis Ardelle Bossert was born February 22, 1931, to Edward and Emma (Maier) Bossert in Selby, South Dakota. She was baptized and confirmed in the Freudental Congregational Church in Selby.

In her younger years, older sister Gladys was her playing partner, and many days were spent with paper dolls until each received a real doll one Christmas. They both had many chores to do in and out of the house including milking the cow, gathering eggs, feeding pigs and sheep and helping butcher chickens. Gladys was squeamish so she made Phyllis clean the guts out of the chickens. Phyllis preferred this to helping chop off their heads, so Gladys got to hold the chickens during this part of the process. Phyllis loved the homemade cottage cheese and schmierkase that her mother made, and the homemade noodles made from the yolks and partially developed eggs they found inside the chickens they butchered. Sometimes they found a whole egg and that was so exciting! Phyllis and Gladys liked to go down town to the drugstore in the summer; for a nickel or an egg they could get an ice cream cone. One day, while not-so-patiently waiting for an egg, they squeezed a chicken to help hurry the process along. As could be imagined, this did not end well for the egg or the girls!

Phyllis attended school in Selby where her mother and father both worked. She was a South Dakota Girls' State delegate and graduated as Valedictorian with the Class of 1949.

Phyllis worked as an operator for the Bell Telephone Company in Selby during high school. She attended the University of South Dakota for five weeks but came home to help her mother Emma raise her new baby brother Curtis. She subsequently worked as a teller at the Selby First National Bank.

Phyllis met and fell in love with Milton Stiegelmeier of Selby. On their first date she ordered a chicken fried steak, not realizing that it wasn't chicken! Phyllis and Milton were married June 21 ^st , 1953 at the Congregational Church in Selby by Reverend Reede, the Methodist minister, because the Congregational pastor was out of town. They honeymooned on a fishing trip in Canada. After their marriage they began attending the Selby United Methodist Church where they became lifelong members. When they married, Mom brought Dad into the Christian community she was raised in, instilling a faith in God and love of charity within their family and for generations to come.

To this union were born three boys, James 'Jim,' John and Jerome 'Jerry.' While Phyllis and Milton raised their boys many hunting and fishing excursions were taken by the family. Phyllis, although not a shooter, was always along to carry the game or catch her fair share of fish. She even called herself the 'family birddog.' The final result of all that hunting and fishing was the food Phyllis prepared; no one could fry pheasant or walleye like she could and her pickled Northern Pike was a treat.

Phyllis also helped out in the field on occasion but mostly she brought meals to Milton and the boys. They especially enjoyed eating her family famous fried chicken out in the hayfield so the work could continue in a timely way.

Milton and Phyllis built a house in Selby, doing the woodwork themselves during the winter of 1965-66 and through the famous spring blizzard of '66. ?????

Phyllis' other interests included attending the three boys' and her little brother Curt's sporting events, Jolly Job Extension Club, serving as a Sunday School teacher, on church missions and visitation committess, TOPS and KOPS clubs, playing cards with the Selby Golf Club, and Senior Citizens. Phyllis liked playing cards, whether it was pinochle and whist with Milton and her parents, or head and foot with the card ladies, and with Reuben and Delores Quenzer and Riney and DeLila Schneider. Phyllis and Milton also played many a competitive game of Scrabble. Mom won most often, though Dad said it was because 'she kept score all the time.' Phyllis also enjoyed 'socializing' with the morning coffee ladies after her walk to get the mail, and after church coffee time.

In retirement, fishing with Milton was a cherished pastime. She would almost always out catch Dad, and his excuse was that he 'had to run the trolling motor.' Grandchildren were welcomed on the boat frequently and cherish memories of Grandpa and Grandma helping them to reel in their catch, getting to help steer the boat, hot dog picnics on shore, lightning storms on Lake Oahe, and the 'big one that got away.' Phyllis and Milton travelled extensively, taking numerous bus trips around the United States and Phyllis had quite a collection of spoons from the states they had visited. They toured many countries in Europe together, bringing home cuckoo clocks for each of their sons from Germany. Another highlight of their lives together was a forty plus day driving-and-sleeping-in-the-blazer-overnight trip to Alaska on the Al-Can highway. They made too-numerous-to-count trips with Jerry to Brookings and other locations for SDSU football games. One particularly special one was John's first game as head coach of the Jackrabbits in California where Phyllis got to drive a grape picking tractor at a winery toured by the fans that made the trip. In later years Milton and Phyllis made a yearly purchase of quilts at the UMC Ingathering where the money was used to feed the hungry. They passed on these quilts to future generations so they too would understand to share the love and make a difference in the world.

The meal table and family gathering feasts were always a special time for Phyllis and Milton, especially at Christmas when mom always hung stockings full of treats for the grandchildren. Wild turkey was one of their specialties, along with walleye, pheasant and venison; traditional German foods were another forte, including strudels, cheese buttons, knoepfle, spatzle, noodles and raisins on Good Friday, borscht, blachinda, and of course, kuchen. Along with family fellowship, faith was central with everyone joining hands to pray together, acknowledging God's grace, goodness and love and asking His blessing before partaking of the delicious food.

Health problems caught up with Phyllis and because of a bad back, bad knees and falling issues she left her home in February of 2013, and joined Milton in the Selby Good Samaritan Society/Walworth County Care Center. She lived the rest of her days there receiving the most amazing care by dedicated and loving professionals. In the last few years, in-town trips to her granddaughter Martha's Mr. Bob's Drive In to get a twist-cone-in-a-cup were the highlight of her summer. Son Jerry was her chauffeur, medication manager, medical and care advocate, and faithful companion through this season of life and stayed by her side through her journey to heaven.

Phyllis stepped from this life into eternity on Sunday, January 26, 2020, at the Mobridge Hospital, where she received the tenderest care during the last weeks of her life.

Phyllis is survived by her sons, John (Laurie) Stiegelmeier, Brookings, SD, Jerry Stiegelmeier, Selby, SD, daughter in law Emily Stiegelmeier, Selby, SD, eleven grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren plus two new babies due in 2020, sister Gladys Reynolds, Mandan, ND, brother Curt (Sharon) Bossert, Aberdeen SD, special sister-in-law DeLila Schneider, Mobridge, SD, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-two years, Milton, in August, 2015, her son, Jim in June 2002, her granddaughter Roseanna Wiechmann in November 2013, her father in 1989, and her mother in 2000.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be directed to the Selby UMC for Hunger Missions.