Nancy Louise (Kraus) Aaker, 86, of Frankfort, SD, passed away peacefully and surrounded by family on Thursday, January 30, 2025, at Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, SD.
Her services will be held on Friday, February 7, 2025, at Hyke Funeral Home in Redfield, SD. Visitation will be from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. with her funeral service following at 4:00 p.m. Her daughter Shari Kastein will officiate. Burial will follow at Mount Hope Cemetery in Frankfort. There will be supper and fellowship at the Frankfort Community Center to follow the burial.
Her funeral service will be live-streamed on the funeral home’s website, below Nancy’s obituary. Arrangements have been entrusted to Hyke Funeral Home (www.hykefuneralhome.com).
Nancy was born on January 28, 1939, in Doland, SD, to Clarence and Dorothy (Liebig) Kraus. She lived on a farm near Doland until moving to a farm near Athol, SD in the fall of 1951. She attended school in Doland, Athol, and was part of the first graduating class of Northwestern High School in 1958. Nancy worked on the family farm until the fall of 1958, when she went to work for Jones Drug in Redfield.
On June 26, 1960, she married Richard ‘Dick’ Aaker in Athol and to this union, five children were born: Terry, Shari, Rick, Kari, and Kori. Nancy and Dick resided in Ashton, SD after their marriage and she continued to work at Jones Drug until 1961 when her first child Terry was born. Nancy then stayed home and raised a garden, canned, and helped neighbors clean chickens. In 1965 (two years after her daughter Shari was born), she went to work at James Valley Nursing Home in Redfield as a nurse’s aide. Son Rick was born in 1966 and in 1968, the family moved to Warner, SD when Dick got a job with South Dakota Wheat Growers in Aberdeen. While in Warner, she worked in the kitchen at the Warner School. Then in 1972, the family moved to Frankfort when Dick became manager of the South Dakota Wheat Growers elevator in Frankfort and that is where they remained. Twin daughters Kari and Kori were born in 1977. Nancy went back to work when the twins headed off to school. She worked at the South Dakota Developmental Center in Redfield doing nourishments for four years and then worked the next 20 years in the Redfield Community Hospital cooking and aiding in the kitchen and then became a med-aide for the Sunset Court living center attached to the hospital.
Nancy enjoyed camping, fishing, and hunting with her family. She was also an avid gardener and had a huge garden every summer and enjoyed canning and freezing vegetables for the winter. Nancy loved going to the casino and playing the slot machines and she could never pass up a good rummage sale.
Nancy is survived by her five children: Terry (Anita) Aaker of Big Stone City, SD, Shari (Bill) Kastein of Rock Rapids, IA, Rick (Renee) Aaker of Sioux Falls, SD, Kari (Doug) Lemmer of Redfield, SD and Kori (Craig) Hickle of Papillion, NE. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren; sister Donna ‘Jean’ Carr of Aberdeen, SD, brother Ken (Florence) Kraus of Aberdeen, SD, brother Bill (Dar) Kraus of Northville, SD, sister-in-law Veronica Kraus of Redfield, SD, brother-in-law Don (Sheila) Aaker of Brandon, SD; as well as many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Dick; her parents, her brothers Donald ‘Buzz’ Kraus, Harold ‘Butch’ Kraus, infant sister Violet Rose Kraus, brother-in-law James Carr, nephew John Carr, her father/mother-in-law Clarence and Elvira Aaker and sister-in-law Marlys (Jack) Mathews.
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