Mary “Penelope” (Sieh) de Hueck died peacefully on December 26, 2017 in Aberdeen.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 6, 2018, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 409 3rd Ave SE, Aberdeen, with Father Mark Lichter as celebrant.

Burial will take place at Sacred Heart Cemetery.

Schriver’s Memorial Mortuary and Crematory, 414 5th Avenue NW, Aberdeen, is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation will be 4-6 p.m., Friday, at the mortuary, followed by a liturgical wake service and Rosary at 6:00 p.m., led by Father Mark Axtmann.

There will be no visitation prior to Mass at the church on Saturday.

Mary Penelope (Sieh) de Hueck was born on February 22, 1929 in Aberdeen, South Dakota to Frank L. Sieh and Neva (Brady) Sieh.   

Penelope graduated from Aberdeen Central High School in 1947. She then attended Rosary College, an all-girls Catholic college in River Forest, IL before she married George T. de Hueck. Together they had three children - Mary Catherine “Cathy”, Peter, and Ian.

Penelope returned to Aberdeen in the late 1960s and lived there for nearly fifty more years before her death. During these many years, she enjoyed being surrounded by her family, dear friends, kind neighbors, and a deeply caring and supportive community.

For more than two decades, she taught kindergarten in the Aberdeen Public School system, primarily at Henry Neil Elementary. She thoroughly enjoyed teaching kindergarten and believed in the importance of taking children on long walks to see and smell flowers, see and hear birds, gather colorful leaves in the fall, etc. She also believed in the importance of children doing simple, creative activities such as playing with blocks. As a teacher, she worked with many wonderful colleagues and had the good fortune to teach more than seven hundred and fifty students and to get to know many families in the community over the years.

Penelope loved her children, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and extended family dearly. She taught them much by example and shared her wisdom in many ways.

Penelope was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Neva; her brothers, Jim Sieh and Frank Sieh; her son, Peter de Hueck; and her former husband, George.

She is survived by her daughter, Cathy de Hueck (Minneapolis, MN) and son Ian de Hueck (Evanston, IL); her sister-in-law, Patsi Sieh (Hastings, MN); two daughters-in-law, Patricia de Hueck Clodfelter (Pierre, SD) and Valerie de Hueck (Evanston, IL); six grandchildren: Adam de Hueck (Pierre, SD), Kim de Hueck (Spearfish, SD), Jen de Hueck (Rapid City, SD), Karina de Hueck (Evanston, IL/Brunswick, ME), Peter de Hueck (Evanston, IL/Northfield, MN) and Devin de Hueck (Evanston, IL/Boston, MA); four great-grandchildren; and fifteen nieces and nephews.