Marilyn Stemsrud
Obituaries January 25, 2025 Mundwiler Funeral Home 0

Marilyn Ruth Stemsrud passed away peacefully on January 22, 2025, at St. William’s Care Center in Milbank, SD.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. at Living Word Lutheran Church in Milbank, SD. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Mundwiler Funeral Home in Milbank. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church on Wednesday. Pastor Curtis Simonson will officiate, and interment will be at Milbank City Cemetery.
Marilyn Ruth (Johnson) Stemsrud was born on June 30, 1932, in Marvin, SD, to Elmer Johnson and Bertina (Barlund) Johnson. She attended Osceola #1 Township School until the age of eight, then the family moved to rural Milbank where she attended Grant Center #5 school and later attended high school in Milbank. Marilyn graduated from Milbank High School in 1950. She went to work for Dr. Norman Madsen, DDS, and Whetstone Valley Electric prior to her marriage. Marilyn was united in marriage with John M. Stemsrud on September 28, 1957, at American Lutheran Church in Milbank.
Marilyn and John lived and worked on their ranch near Stockholm, SD, where they raised beef and dairy cattle. She worked on the farm, milking cows alongside John in the evenings for many years and was also a stay-at-home mom for their four daughters. John passed away in 1992. Marilyn worked at the Stockholm Elevator as a bookkeeper in her later years.
Marilyn was involved in many community organizations. At the time of her death, she was a member of Living Word Lutheran Church in Milbank, SD. She attended a women’s Bible study group in Stockholm and taught summer Bible school at Elim Covenant Church for many years. She was an active member of the Stockholm-Strandburg American Legion Auxiliary for many years. Marilyn was known as a kind, cheerful, trustworthy person and served as the treasurer of many of the groups she was involved in, including the Stockholm Township Board, where she was treasurer until 2021. She was active in the Stockholm Community Club, Grant County Diabetes Association, Grant County Combined Appeal, Elm Grove and Harmony Homemakers Extension Clubs, Peppy Pals 4-H Club, and church circles and quilting groups.
Taking pride in her yard and enjoying gardening, Marilyn grew both vegetables and flowers. In her later years, she loved mowing her yard with her John Deere mower, doing so until she was 88 years old. She was a regular at coffee time and senior meals at the Stockholm Cafe, where, again, she handled the payments and deposits. Marilyn took many bus trips with friends and enjoyed needlepoint, stitchery, and reading.
At the urging of her daughters, Marilyn moved to Park Place Assisted Living in Milbank in December 2021 and then to St. William’s Care Center in February 2024. She enjoyed watching game shows and was regularly involved with Bingo, coffee time, and arts and crafts, and had been selected as president of the resident council shortly before her passing.
John and Marilyn were the parents of four daughters: Nancy (Wayne) Van Hout of Milbank, SD; Julie (Bill) Waltz of Sioux Falls, SD; Kristi Stemsrud of Mankato, MN; and Carol Stemsrud (fiancé, Chris Jones) of Savannah, GA; three grandchildren: Amber (Brandon) DeClercq of Fairmont, MN; John Waltz of Brandon, SD; and Jared Waltz of Sioux Falls, SD; and one great-grandchild, Meekah DeClercq of Fairmont, MN. She was deeply loved and will be genuinely missed by them all, as well as by many, many others.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; and brothers: Herbert Johnson and Gordon Johnson.
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