October 23, 1937– June 21, 2025
Beatrice “Bea” Wilson, 87, Sturgis, passed away Saturday, June 21, 2025 at Monument Health Sturgis Hospital.
Funeral services were held on Wednesday, July 2, at Kinkade Funeral Chapel. Interment was at Black Hills National Cemetery.
Beatrice Mae Gunderson was born October 23, 1937 to Edward O. and Mabel E. (Winterberg) Gunderson at Timber Lake. She was raised in the Timber Lake area, where she attended school.
She married Ernest Wade Wilson in Timber Lake on June 25, 1955. Together they raised three children, Colleen May, Wade Alan and Carol Jayne. They lived in Rapid City, Custer, Mobridge and Belle Fourche before returning to ranching in the Bison area. They moved to Sturgis in 1989 where Bea worked for H & R Block and Kruse’s.
Bea never met a stranger; if she did, she showed them how to make cookies or bread.
Bea was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Mabel Gunderson; husband Ernest; brothers Eddy Martin and Roland “Rocky” Gunderson; and sister Doris Smith.
Survivors include her children – Colleen McKinstry, Wade Wilson and Carol (Jim) Charles; eight grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren; six brothers - Melvin, Melford (“Mac”), Jim, Layne, Timothy and Terry Gunderson; and four sisters - Gloria Guffey, Sylvia Roth, Carol Sasse, and Jayne Pfeifle.
She is also survived by her friend Carrie who was like her third daughter. Family meant everything to Bea.