Alvina Bodensteiner

Alvina Katherine Bodensteiner, age 97, of Rapid City, N.D., formerly of Waucoma, Iowa died Oct. 10, 2017 at the Rapid City Hospice House.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 14, 2018 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Waucoma, Iowa with burial in St. Mary's Cemetery, Waucoma. 

Honorary urnbearers are Alvina’s grandchildren Steve, Luke, Nathan, Bert, Carl, Matt Bodensteiner, Sheryl Batt, Megan Archer and Andrea Tripolino, and great-grandchildren Bergen, Gage, Thea, Julia, Sydney, Ashtyn, Aubrey, Ellery, Lindemn, Eli, Izzy, Amelia Bodensteiner, Towsend and Johanna Batt, and Jack Archer. 

Friends may greet the family from 9:00 - 10:30 a.m. at the church Thursday morning. A luncheon will follow at the Waucoma Event Center.

Services are entrusted to Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home in Waucoma. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials may go to the Ray and Alvina Bodensteiner Family Perpetual Memorial Scholarship at Turkey Valley High School, Jackson Junction, Iowa.

Alvina Katherine Bodensteiner was born Aug. 28, 1920, the second child in a family of six to Theodore and Rose (Croatt) Schmitt.

Alvina lived 90 years in Waucoma, Iowa, and then moved to Rapid City, S.D., to be closer to her family in 2011.

On April 23, 1940 Alvina married Ray Bodensteiner at St. Mary’s in Waucoma; they welcomed six children, five sons and a daughter, into this world. 

Alvina was very involved in their farming operation and in the Waucoma community. She was a member of the Catholic Daughters of America at St. Mary’s Catholic Church for 65 years. 

Alvina loved to play cards with family and friends. She and Ray traveled the world and Alvina enjoyed visiting about their many adventures. Alvina had a passion for flowers and gardening. Spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were some of the most precious times of her life. Alvina was so proud of all her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren always believing in them.

Alvina is survived by four sons, Mark (Judy) of Seattle, Wash., Dr. Bob (Mary Kay) of West Bend Wis., Don (Pat), Tom (Mary Katherine), and daughter Mary (Cal) Weidenbach, all of Rapid City, S.D.; 10 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, brother Alfred (Arlene) Schmitt of Waucoma, Iowa; and one sister Cecilia O’Rourke of Manteca, Calif.

Alvina was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Ray, in 2001; son Carl in 1979; grandson Jon Bodensteiner in 2013; brother Roy and sisters Loretta and Esther.     24u24