Bridget Agatha (Winker) Hoveland

Bridget Agatha Winker Hoveland, 86, of Howard, SD died peacefully July 8, 2017 surrounded by her two daughters and extended family at her daughter’s home in Waunakee, WI. God was the bridge that allowed Bridget to walk those final steps to the door of a home that long ago He had prepared just for her.  Perhaps He had a wall full of Beanie Babies and couple of cats to welcome her.  We trust she lives on in perfect peace, perfect love and perfect contentment in an incorruptible body through the grace of Jesus Christ.  “In Him all things live and move and have their being.” And so it continues on with Bridget. Bridget’s life started on Friday the 13th, February 1931; born to John and Martha (Feuerstein) Winker on a farm that her grandfather homesteaded on the prairies of eastern South Dakota near DeSmet.  Although many years in the future, her life was not unlike that of Laura Ingalls Wilder whose “Little Town On the Prairie” was located just a few miles away. It was full of good old-fashioned country work. She remembers horses working the fields and when her dad got a tractor she learned to drive it.  She moved with her family to 3 other farms near Oldham/Winfred/Howard, SD before she started her adult life.  She started grade school at Drakola School in 1937 and also attended O’Toole’s School, St. Agatha’s Grade School in Howard, and Freedom School.  She attended 2 years at Cathedral High School in Sioux Falls, but transferred to St. Agatha’s High School in Howard SD where she graduated in 1949. In the fall of 1949 she started working in the ASCS Office in Howard, SD as a clerk-typist.  In 1953 she moved to Huron, SD to work for the State FCI Office.  The first day she moved she meet John DeWayne Hoveland and they were married in 1954.  Her husband John worked for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. She started her   married life living in a small trailer house that followed the railroad maintenance crew, living in Castlewood, Estelline, Bruce, Parker, Watertown, Clark, Doland, Redfield and Aberdeen, SD.  Later 1954 they moved the trailer to Huron, SD where they eventually bought a real house. She continued to follow her husband’s work and lived in  Mason City, IA; Milwaukee, WI; Norfolk, NB and Eagle Grove, IA. Bridget was a wife, homemaker and mother for many years before her husband died late in 1972.  She moved back to Howard, SD in early 1973 and started working for  her brother-in-law Mark Feldhaus as an electrician  before retiring  in 1993. Bridget was a member St. Agatha Catholic Church and her Catholic faith was one of the pillars, of her life.  The other pillar was her family. She spent her life supporting her husband, daughters and, after her retirement, helping raise her grandchildren.  She also help care for her mother in her final years. She stayed close to her brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews  and their children  and enjoyed the yearly “Family Picnic” as well as any other reason to get together with  family members. Bridget had many passions in life.  She was an avid hunter and camper.  She bowled and did water aerobics.  She loved to garden, bake and sew. She loved photography, scrapbooking and collecting beanie babies.  She occupied her time with crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, games, and many cats that she had through the years. She loved to organize everything.  One of her greatest passions was travel and she visited almost all of the 50 states in the Union including Alaska, as well as Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Germany, France and Medjugorie, Bosnia. Those grateful for having shared in her life include oldest daughter Deborah (Bill Young) of Mechanicsburg, PA   and their children, Christine (Charles Rainey), Katherine “Katie”  (Wes Baggett), and Kelly Young; her youngest daughter Janet (Wayne Ruhland) of Waunakee, WI and their children Ben and Rebecca (Brian Schrader) and four great grandchildren, Eden, Seth, Elliana and Abigail Joy; and “adopted” grandchild Cindy (Jeremiah DeGollon) and Elijah, as well as her sister Mary Eileen Magdalen Winker Ferry of Howard, SD, her sister-in-law Patricia “Pat” Wagner Winker, as well as many nieces and nephew and their children. Bridget is preceded in death by her parents, John and Martha (Feuerstein) Winker, her husband, John Hoveland and  eleven of her brothers and sisters: John Aloysius (Al) Winker, Anne Catherine Winker Feller, Rose Mary Winker Feldaus, Callista Delores Winker Nelson, Theresa (Tess) Cecelia Winker Gallaher ,  Margaret (Peggy) Martha Winker Eide, Francis Joseph Winker, Ruth Ellen Mary Winker, George William Winker, Gertrude (Trudy) Monica Winker Schwader, and Charles (Charlie) Augustine Winker. Scripture and Rosary service will be 7pm, Friday, August 4, 2017, at St. Agatha Catholic Church, Howard, SD, and visitation one hour prior. Memorial Mass service will be held 10:30am, at St. Agatha’s Catholic Church, Howard, SD, on Saturday, August 5, 2017. Inurnment services will be at Black Hills National Cemetery, Sturgis, SD, on Monday, August 7, 2017, at 11am.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to one of Bridget’s causes, the Lake County Right to Life, 45764 231st St., Madison, SD 57042.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.willoughbyfh.com.

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