HURON — Bertha “Bert” Marie Stiner, 86, of Huron and formerly of Wessington, passed away Thursday, August 31, 2017, at SunQuest Healthcare Center.
Her funeral service will be 11 a.m., Monday, September 4, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wolsey. Burial will be in the Wessington Cemetery. Visit-
ation will be from 2 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Kuhler Funeral Home with her family present from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday evening.
Bertha “Bert” Marie Horsley Stiner was born October 8, 1930, at Virgil to Guy and Ettie “Eldora” (Manor) Horsley. She was baptized as a young child. Her family moved to a farm southwest of Wessington in 1934. Bert attended McNeil School through eighth grade, a rural elementary school in Hand County.  As was customary in her family, she stayed home one year after eighth grade before beginning high school to help on the family farm. After staying home one year, Bertha started high school at Wessington.  During her high school years, Bertha lived in the girls’ dormitory in Wessington and worked in the dining hall and local restaurant to help pay expenses. She graduated from Wessington High School in 1949. After graduation, she moved to Huron and lived with her sister, Ruth, and worked as a dispatcher for a taxi cab company and Penney’s department store.
Bertha married Rennald Stiner October 8, 1950, on her 20th birthday at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wolsey. They farmed and ranched east of Wessington where Bertha was an active partner in the operation. A son, Kerry, and daughter, Rennae, completed their family. In 1960, they moved to a farm six miles northeast of Wessington.
Rennald and Bert were some of the first members of the Concordia Lutheran Church in Wessington. After being confirmed in 1953, she taught Sunday School for twelve years and held Lutheran Women’s Missionary League offices continually until later in life. Bertha served as Concordia’s historian and also the Huron Zone LWML’s historian for decades. She was woman chairman of Hand County Farm Bureau and president of the local S.D. Cattlewomen for several years. Bert also served on the election board in Whiteside Township for over 35 years.
The family was actively involved in 4-H. While helping her children compete in the 4-H program, Bertha began entering contests also. Using her creativity and skills, she entered countless sewing, baking, and cooking contests for over 25 years. She received many honors at the South Dakota State Fair as well other competitions such as Dakota Winter Show, Pie in the Park, Make it with Wool, Sioux Empire Farm Show, S.D. Beef Cook-Off, Farm Bureau Baked Food Contest, S.D. Egg Cooking Contest, etc. A sampling of her many honors over the years was Best of Show in 1975 at the Dakota Winter Show competition, winning a sewing machine as a first place winner with over 100 contestants in the “Seam It Yourself Style Show”. Bert also placed first in the South Dakota Crisco Pie contest in 1986 and 1989. Her prize each time was a trip to represent S.D. at the National Crisco Pie Baking Contest in Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia. She also placed in the “Teen” magazine “Sew It Up” competition in 1973 and was named Hand County Farm Bureau Woman of Achievement in 1979.
Rennald and Bert continued their farming and ranching operation at Wessington until 2010, when they moved to Huron.
Her priorities were serving her Lord, family, and others in addition to attending her children’s and grandchildren’s activities.
Bertha is survived by her husband of 66 years, Rennald; her son, Kerry (Bonnie) Stiner of Burke, along with their children, Brianna (Andy) Hoffman (Jack, Ava, Reese), Tiffany (Nate) Miller (Noah, Luke, Graham), and Kollin (Sarah) Stiner (Isabel, Nora, Karson); her daughter, Rennae (David) Padderud of Britt, Iowa, along with their children, Dustyn Padderud and Kelsey (Nick) Baker (Brody, Eli, Brooke). In addition to her family listed above, Bertha is also survived by one brother, Wayne (Joan) Horsley; and four sisters, Ruth Thomas, Tressie Beck, Myrtle Van Asperen, and Sharon (Roger) Menning.
She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Lula Wedge, and Alma Plate; and two brothers and three sisters during childhood.
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