Obituary of Betty Jeanne Zoerb

Parkston – Betty Jeanne Zoerb, 86, went to her heavenly home Tuesday, April 23 at Aurora-Brule Nursing Home in White Lake.  Funeral service will be Friday, April 26 at 2:00 pm, with visitation beginning at 12:30 pm, at Parkston Congregational Church in Parkston.  Arrangements by Koehn Bros. Funeral Home in Parkston.

Betty Jeanne Zoerb was born June 22nd, 1937, in Ainsworth Nebraska to Lambert and Violet (Alberts) Jerred. Throughout her childhood she lived all over Nebraska and Idaho. While attending school no matter where they lived, Betty rode her horse to school or walked. She graduated from Butte High School in Butte, Nebraska 1953. While working as a ranch hand for her sister and brother-in-law, Mildred and Gerald Painter, she met the love of her life Kenneth (Bud) Zoerb. The two were married in a small service on October 8th, 1954, in O’Neill Nebraska. After their honeymoon in the Black Hills, they sold 10 Hereford Bulls and bought their own ranch. They ranched for 13 years outside of Newport, Nebraska and welcomed four children: Terry, Lyle, Ellen, Roxane (Roxie) before moving to Parkston, SD in 1967. They opened the Gambles Hardware Store until it burnt down in 1979. They opened another store Hardware Hank which they ran until 1983. She then sold Tupperware for a few years and then later became a cook at the Parkston Elementary and High School where she became known to many kids as “Grandma Betty.”

Bud and Betty were never apart and did everything together. Their grandkids were the highlights of their lives. They would never take less than 10 grandkids at a time on camping trips all over the country. From these adventures great memories were made, like when Bud forgot Betty on the side of the interstate to fried SPAM over the campfire, forts with refrigerator boxes, playing marbles, milk shakes, popcorn before bed, homemade birthday cakes, playing “Monster”, bike rides to the Dairy Mart, coffee for breakfast, many trips to the swimming pool, going to the bakery for donuts, and riding bikes with grandma are just a few of the things her grandkids will hold close to their hearts.

Betty was an amazing seamstress and often made her grandkids clothes. When she retired, she opened her own business of “Betty’s Stitch and Sew.” You would often find her for hours on end in her sewing room, doing her favorite thing, patching jeans! She loved to knit, sew, embroider, quilt, and make dishcloths while in her glider rocking chair watching her “soaps.” There wasn’t anything she couldn’t fix with a needle and thread, or her favorite weapon of choice, Duct Tape. She was an amazing cook that was always ready to feed an army. If you showed up on a Saturday during college football season you better have been prepared to listen to the Nebraska Huskers game on the radio.

Her sass and spunk were not lost even when the Dementia took over. She was often caught stealing snacks from the Nurses desk drawers, pinching nurses butts and laughing while she walked away, and calling “BS” when she didn’t agree with something.

She is survived by her children: Terry (Kathy) Zoerb, Waynesville, OH; Lyle (Jane) Zoerb, Brandon, SD; Ellen (Jim) Neugebauer, Dimock, SD; Roxie Bialas, Sioux Falls, SD. Her Grandchildren: Jon (Carly) Zoerb, Nichole (John) Conrad, Holly (Aaron) Hall, Terry (Megan) Zoerb Jr., Ben (Dana) Neugebauer, Kelly (Jammy) Strand, Nadia (Michael) Haller, Wade (Kristen) Bialas, Katherine Zoerb, Amanda Robinson, Larissa Neugebauer, Lura Zoerb, Mike (Kim) Zoerb. 15 great-grandchildren, many nieces and nephews, and her dog Patches.

She is preceded in death by her “Sweetie” Bud, siblings: Lucille (Herman) Schrolten, Mildred (Gerald) Painter, Rollin (Myra) Jerred. Her parents Lambert and Violet, In-Laws John and EliseZoerb.