Alice F. Simon, 88, Hoven, SD, died at about 3:00 PM, the Divine Mercy Hour, Monday, January 29, 2024 at Avera Gettysburg Hospital, Gettysburg, SD.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 AM, First Friday and Presentation of the Lord, Friday, February 2, 2024, at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Hoven, with Father Brian P. Simon, Celebrant and Fr. Joseph Holzhauser concelebrant. Interment follows at the church cemetery. Organist will be Stephanie Raap and St. Anthony’s Church Choir will sing On This Day, O Beautiful Mother”, “Be Not Afraid”, “Blest Are They”, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”, and   “Song of Farewell”;  Vocalist Vicky Anderson will sing “I Have Loved You”; Lector will be Dana Randall; Mass Servers will be Alex, Chase, and Evan Lutter; and offertory gift bearers will be granddaughters Stacy Sprengeler, Megan Weyh, and Maggie Wegleitner.

Reception of the Body and Visitation commences 4:00 PM Thursday with a 5:00 PM wake service and rosary at the church.

Alice’s funeral will be livestreamed at the Lien Family Funeral Care Facebook page.

Alice Frances Rausch, daughter of Catherine (Meyer) and Nicholas P. Rausch, was born June 7, 1935 at Bowdle. She was brought up at the Rausch farm five miles SW of Hoven. Her formal education consisted of Arena country school, Hoven High School (Class of 1953), and LPN training at St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre, SD. She worked as an LPN at Holy Infant Hospital in Hoven. Alice married Steve Simon, Jr. on November 17, 1956 in Hoven. They lived briefly in Aberdeen, SD. In September 1957, they purchased the Leo Illies farm eight miles west of Hoven. Steve and Alice lived, farmed, ranched, and raised their family there. In October 2002, they moved into Hoven where Alice lived the rest of her life.

Alice was a member of St. Anthony of Padua Parish of Potter County and St. Anthony Altar Society while being the church organist for an amazing 70+ years, starting in eighth grade! Her music training ended with high school graduation. The rest was being blessed with the gift of music in the service of others. She was well known for her musical ability as she was part of Loren’s Western Swing during her LPN training and played for the Rausch Sisters singing group for many years. She taught liturgical music in St. Anthony Catholic School and numerous piano lessons for students. She won the crown of Miss Hoven in the 1953 Snow Queen contest which won the heart of Steve, Jr. She also won the talent competition at the State Snow Queen contest.

She was the head of the parish prayer group and was in the Koinonia Retreat Movement. She was a dedicated member of the American Legion Auxiliary and fan of local school sports. Alice enjoyed traveling with her priest son with highlights being a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and a trip to the Canadian Rockies. She was a gifted card player as well.

Alice worked on genealogy which she inherited from her mother. Their studies lead us to finding out that through her mother’s line among other priests and religious, we have Brother Wendelin Meyer, SVD who founded the American Mission of the Divine Word Missionaries; Fr. Dominic Meyer, O.F.M. Cap. (Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, English secretary for St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina); Albert Gregory Cardinal Meyer of Chicago and Joseph Aloisius Cardinal Ratzinger who became Pope Benedict XVI was her seventh cousin.

Alice is survived by three sons—Craig S. (Patricia) Simon of Aberdeen, Stephen N. (Peggy) Simon of Groton, SD; and Father Brian P. Simon of Gettysburg; two sisters—Evelyn Nemec of Des Moines, Iowa and Leona Kaiser of Sioux Falls, SD; seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren with two on the way.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Steve Jr., on May 1, 2004; her father, Nicholas, on February 15, 1975; her mother, Catherine, on June 5, 1980; her son, Gerard, on August 16, 2020; her daughter, Lynette Singleton, on February 25, 2023; her grandson, Alex Singleton, on February 15, 2023; five sisters, and three brothers.

Services are in care of Lien Funeral Home, Bowdle.

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