Lucille Mjoen

Lucille “Lucy” Mjoen, age 97, of Yankton, South Dakota died peacefully on Friday, November 10, 2023 at Avera Sister James Care Center in Yankton.

Memorial services are 10:30 AM, on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at Wintz & Ray Funeral Home in Yankton with Reverend David Wildermuth officiating.  The memorial service will be livestreamed and be watched at https://www.wintzrayfuneralhome.com/obituaries/lucille-mjoen.  Inurnment will be in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Yankton.  The family will receive friends from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, on Wednesday, November 15 at the Wintz & Ray Funeral Home with a prayer service at 7:00 PM.

Lucille was born April 7, 1926 in Hurley, South Dakota to Hans and Anna (Andersen) Sorensen during the “Roaring Twenties”, part of the “Greatest Generation”.  The Sorensen family lived on a farm near Viborg, South Dakota during the “1929 Stock Market Crash”.  Lucy was the fifth child of eight children, who learned to be a survivor along with her brother and six sisters.  They lived through the “Great Depression” trying to survive the best they could with what they had, after the family life savings was lost when the local “Bank Closed”.

As a teenager, Lucy lived through the “Dust Bowl”, sometimes referred to as the “Dirty Thirties”, a period of several dust storms causing major agricultural damage to the American prairies, driving many South Dakota families away from farming.  The “Bank Closure” and “Dirty Thirties” prompted Lucy’s parents to give up farming.  In 1936, they moved the family to Volin, South Dakota.  Hans and Anna purchased the Coffee Cup Café and Volin Pool Hall in 1941.  These were formative years as Lucy lived through WWII while attending Volin High School, keeping busy as a pen pal to the love of her life, Private First Class, Gilbert Mjoen, 104^th Infantry Division, Europe.

Upon graduation from Volin High School in 1944, Lucy moved to Rockford, Illinois taking a job working in a defense plant until the end of WWII.  Upon the end of WWII, Lucy moved back to Volin to be with Gilbert, who she married on February 20, 1946.  Lucy and Gilbert moved to Yankton in 1947 where they remained raising a family of four children.  For a short period of time Lucy worked at Sioux Radio and Dale Electronics, until she became a permanent stay-at-home mother.  Lucy was also an excellent seamstress sewing for her family.

Lucy was a natural athlete and from 1944 to 1946 loved to participate in competitive women’s softball leagues.  With her natural athletic ability, Lucy agreed to learn to play golf with Gilbert if he learned how to dance.  In 1970 at age 44, Lucy learned to golf and Gilbert learned to dance.  By age 50, Lucy had a 7 handicap and was one of the top women golfers in Yankton County.  In 2010 at age 87, Lucy joined “Holy Cow”, a team of three women who competed weekly in the Pure Ice Company NFL Football Pool.  For the past 13 years “Holy Cow” has competed weekly with 90 other competitive teams.  Last year “Holy Cow” finished in fourth place.

Our hearts are broken and yet filled with joy knowing Lucy has been reunited with Gilbert, the love-of-her-life, both dancing and playing golf once again.  Lucy lived an amazing life surrounded by a wonderful family; as she was a very kind and sweet woman with a great sense of humor!

Lucy’s tribute to the MJOEN family:

• “M” is for mirth, her laughter
• “J” is for joy, she always brought
• “O” is for outgoing, she was always the sociable one
• “E” is for exquisite, who can argue
• “N” is for her name, a tribute to her family

Lucy is survived by her four children: Roger (Vicki) Mjoen of Naples, Florida, Pamela Mjoen of Yankton, Robert (Christie) Mjoen of Houston, Texas, and Sheryl (Bruce) Gullikson of Yankton; sister, Carolyn Zavadil of Crofton, Nebraska; 16 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren.

Lucy was preceded in death by her husband, Gilbert Mjoen; parents, Hans and Anna Sorensen; brother, Everett (Helen) Sorensen; sisters, Estella (Arnold) Anderson; Muriel (Oliver) Aaen; Gladys (Lowell) Brown; Darlene (Warren) Hoxeng; Elaine (Jim) Meyers; and brother-in-law, Jerome Zavadil.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Ernest-Bowyer VFW Post 791, 209 Cedar Street in Yankton, SD  57078.