Rita Mary (Scheller) Huettl

Rita Mary (Scheller) Huettl peacefully joined those in heaven Easter morning, Sunday, April 5, 2015. Daughter Julie and her partner Greg were by her side. Rita spent her final years in Holly Hill, Florida.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 a.m., Friday, April 10, 2015, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 409 3rd Avenue SE, Aberdeen, with Father Melvin Kuhn, Celebrant.

Interment will take place at 1:00 p.m. at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Westport, SD.

Schriver's Memorial Mortuary & Crematory, 414 5th Avenue NW, Aberdeen, is handling arrangements.

Visitation will be 5-7 p.m., Thursday, at the mortuary, with a Liturgical Wake Service at 7:00 p.m. Visitation continues one hour before Mass at church Friday.

Rita Mary Scheller was born July 2, 1926, to Frank and Mary (Huhn) Scheller of Indianapolis, IN. She was raised in Indianapolis along with two sisters and two brothers, the daughter of a carpenter and real estate developer. She was active in the Youth Catholic Organization (YCO) and served as camp counselor in the summers. She graduated from Sacred Heart Catholic High School.

Rita attended Purdue University for a time. She enjoyed friends and time at the lake in her youth. She was active in local theatre groups, worked as a RIT Dye answer girl and had adventures traveling with friends and visiting her sister at her foreign service stations in the 1950's.

She met Homer P. Huettl in Indianapolis, IN, while she was doing theater work with the Footlight Players at the Knights of Columbus Hall. They used the Knights of Columbus as their prop and rehearsal hall. Homer stayed there when he was in town on sales calls. They were wed on May 5, 1962, in Indianapolis. They made their home in South Dakota on a farm west of Westport.

They moved to Aberdeen, SD, where they had an interest in the CreeMee ice cream shop and Homer later worked as a welder at Hub City Iron until his retirement. Rita was active at Sacred Heart Catholic Church and in the catholic school systems. She worked for a time in the 1970's at St. Luke's hospital in the office and later as an aide at Lourdes Hall. She spent many years as a Pink Lady volunteer at St. Luke's Hospital. She looked forward to the many various projects, the other volunteers and patients interactions every week. She took special joy in "tray favor" duties.

Rita was an artistic soul and willing to try almost any craft from oil painting to crawling up a metal junk pile to retrieve a "special piece" for some sculpture. She always had a ready and loving smile and optimistic attitude. We will miss her quick wit and laughter. She and Homer enjoyed bus tours around the states, a trip to Germany and Europe and trips to Florida to visit their daughter.

Surviving Rita are children: Patrice Huettl of Petersburg, AK, Julie Huettl (Greg Bowes) of Ormond Beach, FL and Theodore (Lucie) Huettl of Rapid City SD; sister, Toni Connor; brother, Vince (Carol) Scheller of Indianapolis, IN; sister-in-law, Sr. Mary Aileen Huettl of Aberdeen; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by husband Homer; her parents; sister, Dorothy Scheller; and her brother, Robert Scheller.

Family prefers memorials to the St. Luke's Auxiliary Pink Ladies, in lieu of flowers.