Visitation will be from 9:30am-10:30am on Saturday, November 26, 2022, with a Rosary beginning at 10:30am and Mass of Christian Burial beginning at 11:00am, all at St. John’s Catholic Church in Fort Pierre. Helen will be laid to rest at Scotty Philip Cemetery in Fort Pierre following the Mass.

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Family and friends will forever cherish their memories of Helen Stewart of Pierre who passed away on November 19, 2022, at the age of 97.

Helen Claire Melmer was born in Wagner, South Dakota, to Louis and Mary (Jezek) Melmer on June 15, 1925, and grew up with the companionship of four sisters: Mary Paula, Anna Mariette, Lillian, and Georgia. She attended elementary school south of Wagner at Ree No. 3, the second of three generations of Melmers to do so before it closed. Later, she attended Notre Dame Academy, a private girls school in Omaha, Nebraska.

After returning home to South Dakota, she worked for a time at Standard Meat Market in Yankton, which was the forerunner of Cimpl’s meat packing company. On December 22, 1947, she married Louis Stewart in Dante, and they resided in Wagner early in their marriage. Into this union, four children were born: Kenneth, Dennis (Dean), Shannon, and Shirley. The family moved to Fort Pierre in December 1956.

Through the years, Helen worked at various motels and, following Louis’s passing, she eventually relocated across the bridge to Pierre. She went on to work at State Publishing & Printing for eight years before spending nearly three decades at both Buhl’s Dry Cleaners, Laundry & Linen Supply, performing countless alterations for area residents, and at the Capital Journal, indulging her penchant for history as a researcher for the “Down by the Old Missouri” column, all the while, perfectly exemplifying her motto: Work is therapeutic.

A frugal fashionista, when she wasn’t putting her seamstress skills to use professionally, she kept busy ensuring she and generations of her family (and her granddaughters’ dolls) were kept impeccably clothed. She was always up for antiquing or bargain hunting, finding new treasures to refresh the décor of her cozy, always-neat-as-a-pin home. Her deep appreciation of polka—music, dancing, and dots—was matched only by her voracious appetite for reading (no fiction for her—Old West biographies or military history were her preferred genres), which supported her lifelong pursuit of self-education and made her a regular winner of KCCR Radio’s trivia contest. Above all else, she cherished time spent with her family and her friends at Lincoln Apartments and, for Helen, there was no better way to express that love than through baking, including kolaches, cakes, cookies, and her famous dumplings and pies.

Devoted to her faith, Helen was a longtime member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Fort Pierre, where she previously served as a reader and on the parish council, in addition to helping write a history of St. John’s. She read her Bible cover-to-cover many times, prayed the rosary each morning, and rarely missed Mass.

She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters, and husband, as well as two grandchildren, Chad and Kayla Stewart, and a great-grandson, Mathew Stewart.

She is survived by her three sons, Ken Stewart of Pierre, Dean (Mary) Stewart of Pierre, and Shannon (Marlene) Stewart of Eaton, Colorado; her daughter, Shirley (Mark) Barber of Onida; her eight grandchildren, Brian (Janelle) Stewart, Brett Stewart, Martha (Marty Norman) Stewart, Rebecca Stewart, Shawn Stewart, Amanda (Jeff Berg) Barber, Andrea (Jeff) Goebel, and Abigail (James) Burgum; her two step-grandchildren, Kara (Neils Christoffersen) Gloe and Amber (Ricky) Rosenoff; her nine great-grandchildren, Savannah Stewart, Jordan (Dace) Kelly, Morgan and Jarett Boardman, Faith, Eve, and Noah Goebel, and Calvin and Silas Burgum; her four step-great-grandchildren, Frankie and Leona Christoffersen and Lundon and Dylan Rosenoff; and her two great-great-grandchildren, Riggin and Arkin Kelly.

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