Margie P. Stengle

Margie Phyllis Stengle was born on May 19, 1923 to Roy and Mary (Nelson) Piersol in Vermillion, SD. She passed away at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton on August 5, 2022, at 99 years young. A celebration of her life will be held at a future date.  Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz & Ray Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Yankton. Margie grew up on the Piersol family farm with her seven siblings and joined a large extended family of Clay County relatives. Margie attended grade school at the nearby Spirit Mound School. She graduated from the University High School on the campus of the University of South Dakota in 1941. She married that handsome US Navy pilot, Robert M. Stengle, from Yankton at the Memphis Naval Air Station on September 9, 1945. The couple moved to Vermillion where Rob attended the University under the GI Bill. Sons Robert, Jr. (1946) and Thomas (1949) were born in Vermillion. After Rob graduated from USD, the family moved to Yankton as Rob began his career with the US Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. Son James was born in Yankton in 1951. Margie was a truly lovely person, and she made the world a little better place for many in her own quiet way. She was always willing to help and rarely needed to be asked. During World War II with the blessings of their parents, she and three of her best friends from high school moved to Kansas City and worked in the defense industry building B-25 bombers. Those “Rosie the Riveter” gals supported the war efforts and became unsung heroes to many. They are true icons of the women’s movement. Family and faith were Margie’s focus. With the move to Yankton, she joined the First United Methodist Church which was Rob’s childhood church. That relationship with her Church lasted for over 70 years. When her sons were small, she helped with Sunday School. She was involved in many church functions and activities from bible study, UMW, choir, bell choir, annual bazaar, funerals, weddings, memorials, kitchen duties, the Methodist bowling league, Habitat for Humanity, and more. She delivered Meals on Wheels well into her 90s. She was the consummate volunteer, and it gave her strength and enjoyment. Margie is survived by sons, Robert and James of Yankton, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, and many friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert; son, Thomas; her parents, Roy and Mary Piersol; brother, Ralph Piersol; sisters, Florence Piersol, Elsie Piersol, Dorothy Christensen, Ruth Neer, Corrine Callahan, and Arlene Larson.