Delores “Pete” E. Ames, 88, of Gettysburg, formerly of Miller, passed away Thursday, March 13, 2025, at Avera Oahe Manor, Gettysburg.

Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at the United Methodist Church, Gettysburg with visitation one-hour prior. Burial will be 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at G.A.R. Cemetery, Miller. Following the burial, there will be a gathering at the Ranch Cafe for family and friends.

Pete was born on June 20, 1936, in Volin, SD to Tommy and Ethel (Hardin) Pederson, the fifth of six children. Her dad was a sharecropper, so she attended several country schools before graduating from Carthage High School in 1954. A natural caregiver, she trained as a nurse at Methodist Nurse’s College in Mitchell, graduating in 1957.

She married David Ames on February 28,1958 and moved to a farm north of Miller, where the two started a family the following year. For the next decade, she was a farm wife while working part-time at the hospital in Miller, SD. When the youngest of Pete and Dave’s five kids entered school, she took on more nursing hours, continuing as a full-time nurse for more than 40 years.

In 1994 Pete and Dave moved from the farm into Miller, settled into a home right across the street from the hospital and brought Pete’s prized mulberry tree along. Pete’s jams and jellies gained a following in multiple communities throughout the state. Beyond jelly-making, cooking Sunday roasts, and baking (coconut balls, peanut brittle, pies, cookies, and more), Pete’s other favorite activities included playing cards and dominoes with friends and neighbors, doing puzzles, and acing solitaire. The Scrabble board never sat idle for long. Nearing retirement, Pete also took up bowling. She dearly loved the sport and became quite good, even going to state one year.

Through the years, Pete was active in the Greenleaf and Miller United Methodist Churches, UMW, many bible studies, Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, youth group, and numerous other events including mission trips to Jamaica.

In 2018, Pete moved to Gettysburg, where she joined in every activity she could and made dozens of new friends. She enjoyed spending time at the Medicine Rock Senior Center and later at the Avera Oahe Manor and Haven. She moved into the nursing home in 2023, where, for the first time, she was on the receiving end of care. She and her family will be forever grateful for the top-notch care she received there from some amazing people she grew to know and love.

Pete loved people. She had a servant’s heart and was at her best when there were people to be taken care of or friends to share laughs with, preferably over a cup of coffee and a slice of pie.

She will be dearly missed by her family on Earth but welcomed with open arms by her family waiting for her in heaven. She is survived by her daughters: LeAnn (John) Suhr of Webster, Theresa (Ken) Martinmaas of Clear Lake, and Ellen (Kevin) Logan of Gettysburg; fourteen grandchildren; seventeen great-grandchildren; brother, Ron (Irene) Pederson; sisters-in-law, Alice Baruth and Sally Schatz; brother-in-law, Steve (Bud) Ames; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Tommy and Ethel; husband David, son Bill, daughter Peggy; brother Joe Pederson; and sisters: Vivian Amen, Carol Rhodes, and Sonja Pederson.

Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg has been entrusted with Pete’s arrangements.

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