January 21, 1927 – June 13, 2024
Cherry Delsy Lippert, 97, died on Thursday, June 13, 2024, at the Diamond Willow Assisted Living Center in Little Falls, MN.
Funeral services were held Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at Sunnycrest United Methodist Church in Sioux Falls. Cherry will be buried at Black Hills National Cemetery at Sturgis at 2:30 pm MT on Thursday, June 20, 2024.
Cherry was born on January 21, 1927 in Watertown to Ernest and Carrie Sample. The Great Depression played an outsized role in her earliest years, forcing her and her family to move several times within South Dakota and Iowa, before they eventually settled into a farmhouse near South Shore.
Upon graduating from high school in Watertown, Cherry attended South Dakota State College (now South Dakota State University), with the support of her father. Cherry met a very special classmate, her future husband, Herbert “Herb” Arthur Lippert.
She graduated with a bachelor degree in Home Economics, and began teaching Home Economics in Egan. Soon after, at a simple ceremony held over Christmas break in 1949, Cherry and Herb were married in Watertown.
Herb’s career in the SD Extension Service complemented Cherry’s community-mindedness. Although Herb may have been the official County Extension Agent, the two had a partnership that often saw Cherry and Herb working together in ways that strengthened their communities in Brookings, Belle Fourche and eventually Timber Lake, where they moved in 1953.
Cherry’s home routinely became ‘home’ to neighborhood children, exchange students and any child needing her care and support.
As her children became more independent, Cherry continued her pursuit of education and service. She graduated with a Master Degree in Special Education at the University of South Dakota, eventually taking a position as a Special Education teacher.
Cherry’s independence and adaptability met one of its greatest challenges with Herb’s cancer diagnosis. Knowing the importance of friends and family — not just medicine — in the fight against illness, they interspersed his treatments with trips to see grandchildren, travel and fulfill other dreams they had together.
After the passing of Herb in 1988, Cherry lived independently in her home in Timber Lake. She gracefully cared for her relatives, Clarence and Regina Lippert, and her parents, until their deaths.
She delighted in each of her grandchildren, and took them on trips that included South Dakota State Fair excursions, wagon train adventures, Niagara Falls, wolf conservation education, hot-air balloon rides and exploring ancient cultures in the Southwestern United States.
Cherry enjoyed serving and learning from others, traveling to Russia on a mission trip after the end of the Cold War and making several trips to Mississippi with Habitat for Humanity.
In 2008 she moved to Sunnycrest Retirement Village in Sioux Falls where she embraced the energy of new friends, group activities and finding ways to serve her new community. She served in the Meals on Wheels program, as a resident assistant and on numerous other committees at Sunnycrest Village.
With her family’s support and assistance, Cherry moved to Diamond Willow Assisted Living in Little Falls, MN at 97 years of age.
Grateful for having shared her life are her four children: Lenore “Lee” (Larry) Monnens of Hermosa, Tom (Linda) Lippert of Royalton, MN, Sandy (Duane) Hoff of Glad Valley, Twyla Lippert of Sioux Falls and former son-in-law, Jeffrey Steinberger of Sioux Falls; grandchildren: Becky (Chad Wilkins) Monnens, Mary (Willi) Kurniawan, Matt (Cassie) Monnens, Ashley (Flinton) McCabe, Todd (Angelica) Lippert, Samuel Steinberger, Kellie (Jorge) Bernal, Marilyn (Mitch) Klein, and Braden (Ambria) Steinberger; 16 greatgrandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Herbert A. Lippert; her parents; her brother, Bruce Sample; grandson, Ryan Lippert; parentsin- law, L.C. and Madeline Lippert; brother-and-sister-in-law, Tom and Joyce Lippert; brother-and-sisterin- law, Lamar and Barbara (Lippert) Schoefield; niece, Berta (Lippert) Schroeder; and special relatives, Clarence and Regina Lippert.
(Sandy Hoff ’s address is HC 68 Box 9, Glad Valley, SD 57644.)