Eden, SD: The Mass of Christian Burial for MarySusan “Sue” Jaspers will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Eden. Fr. Ken Lulf will celebrate the mass with Fr. Alex Leschisin concelebrating. Interment will take place in the St. Michaels Cemetery under the direction of Olson Funeral Chapel.
Visitation will be 5:00-7:00 p.m. Monday, June 1, 2026 at the church, concluding with a 7:00 p.m. vigil service.
MarySusan (Lams) Jaspers was born on December 14,1941, seven days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to Susan and Victor J. Lams Sr. in Warren, Michigan. She was baptized on January 11, 1942, at St. Clement Church in Center Line, Michigan. MarySue attended elementary school at Saint Anne’s, graduated from Warren Consolidated High School in 1960 and attended Marygrove College.
MarySue met John in Michigan when she was 15 and they were pen pals for six years before he brought her to South Dakota. In a letter to John several months before their wedding day, she wrote, “I just want you to come out here, marry me and take me away so we can be together.” MarySue was united in marriage to John G. Jaspers on June 23, 1962, at St. Anne’s Church in Warren, MI. They were blessed with 4 children: John Donnan, Louise, Mike and Laura. John and Sue lived on John’s home place their entire married life until August of 2023 when she became a resident at Strand-Kjorsvig Living Center in Roslyn. Sue passed away peacefully on May 21st, 2026, with her children and loving husband by her side, at the age of 84.
Sue faithfully attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Eden, SD, where she taught religion classes when her children were young. She was a member of the choir, a money counter, past president of the Sacred Heart Altar Society and liaison on the Parish Council. Sue was active in Right to Life and Relay for Life. A member of Catholic Order of Foresters, she received their Woman of the Year award in 2015. She completed the Dale Carnegie Leadership Course and then served as an assistant instructor for several succeeding classes. Being a precinct election official, a member of the Hectic Homemakers Extension Club, the Red-Hatters and the Roslyn Study Club fed her need for knowledge and socializing with many friends and neighbors. Community events often featured a pan or two of her apple strudel.
Sue is a founding member of Dakotah Home Furnishings and was one of a handful of those original individuals still actively employed on the company’s last day of business. She worked at Dakotah for 28 years in various positions from sewing machine operator, the “unofficial” mechanic and then plant manager at several different facilities in the communities of Eden, Webster, Veblen and Sisseton. She received the company’s President’s Award for Outstanding Service and Dedication in 1985. Sue also served as a board member for many of those years as well as chair of the building committee, being an integral part of several building and expansion projects over the years. After Dakotah’s closure in the late 90s, her leadership and supervisory skills were then tapped by The Connection, a call center company that opened facilities in northeast South Dakota. Sue served as the first site manager of the Sisseton facility.
After retiring, but needing to stay busy, she started the Nettleberry Company with her childhood best friend, Nancy. The vacated upstairs rooms of the farmhouse became a warehouse of books which were sold across the globe. Sue became very involved with the St. Michael Cemetery Board and maintained the directories for St. Joseph, Eden Park and St. Michael Cemeteries. She cared for the perennials in St. Michael Cemetery and would measure and stake graves for burials and installation of monuments; she was always armed with a hand trowel or a hand sprayer to take out any weeds that dared to cross her path.
As her family grew, she became affectionately known as Grandma Sue, a title, role and occupation she loved most of all. Often commenting, “If I would’ve only known how fun it is to be a grandma, I would’ve skipped having kids and went right to grandkids!” Her passion was to pass on as much knowledge and creative energy to her grandchildren as she possibly could. She built learning into every activity she could – well, almost every activity – there was the magic water fountain… In addition, her grandchildren knew that family get-togethers meant two pans of cheesy potatoes at the table and a gallon of her homemade chicken noodle soup to take home.
She had superpowers that always amazed us, fixing anything with a pliers, Gorilla Glue, duct tape and a little bit of paint. Old furniture didn’t stand a chance of staying old with her supply of paint thinner, assorted stain colors and varnish. A wizard behind the controls of a sewing machine, she was able to create clothes for her children and anything else she could stitch together and make a purpose for. We fell asleep many nights to the whirring of her sewing machine. Whether she was doing something to stay busy or just snuggled up with a book, a cup of coffee was always within reach.
Her knowledge and passion for plants spilled into as many yards as she could share her yard’s abundance with, and as much as one of her affectionately named “garden cars” would carry. Loving perennials that would bring joy year-after-year were her favorites. In her 70s, Sue established a raspberry patch that grew out of control (much like her apple trees…), reminding her of the patch in her childhood backyard she snitched from whenever she could.
Sue’s dementia in her last years definitely did not define the active and passionate person that she was. She knew the human heart needed to be fed with the companionship of others and spent the majority of her life turning people into friends. She would still occasionally give us “the look” in her final weeks, which typically would have lead to a grin, or something sterner, depending on what we had coming.
Remaining to cherish her life and memory are her husband of almost 64 years, John G., their children Louise and Dan Meyer, Wilmot, SD; Mike and Robin Jaspers, Sioux Falls, SD; and Laura Lentsch, Farmington, MN; her grandchildren Alicia and Brad Oliver, Courtney and Shane Wheeler, Shannon and Derrick Getty, Ellie Jaspers, Alex Jaspers, Austin Lentsch (Madeleine), Claire Lentsch (Alex Bertsch), Shane Lentsch and Kate Lentsch; great-grandchildren Caleb Wheeler, Blake and Johnathon Getty. She is also survived by sisters Carol Lams and Dorothy (Richard) Loverde, sisters-in-law Kay (Ken) Goehner, Barbara Lams, Andrea (Jerry) Lams Edwards, and many nieces and nephews.
Sue was preceded in death by her parents Victor and Susan Lams, a baby who passed before birth, son John Donnan, great-grandson Joseph Getty; brothers Vic Lams and Henry Lams, sister and brother-in-law Sylvia and Valery Jaspers, in-laws Rosa Lee and Melvin Opitz, Germaine and Laverne Rice, and her niece Rita Opitz.
Condolences may be directed to the family in care of Mike Jaspers – 46831 262nd St. – Sioux Falls, SD 57107.
Memorials may be directed to any organization that reminds you of Sue’s life contributions and passions, such as the St. Michael Cemetery Perpetual Fund, the John D. Jaspers Memorial Scholarship in Agriculture at SDSU or any cause that speaks to you in remembrance of her.
Sue’s family would like to give special thanks to the staff at Strand-Kjorsvig Living Center for taking care of Sue like one of their own and most recently the exceptional care from Prairie Lakes Hospice. The kindness and understanding shown to Sue by everyone in the local communities over the past several years definitely did not go unnoticed and will forever be appreciated.
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