Obituary | JoAnn Omafray of Mobridge, South Dakota

August 22, 1931 – November 29, 2023

JoAnn Omafray, 92, of Mobridge, passed away peacefully with loved ones present on November 29, 2023, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Funeral services will be held on Saturday, December 16, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Mobridge, followed by burial in Greenwood Cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge.  There will be a vigil prayer service at 7 p.m. on Friday, December 15, at St. Joseph’s.

JoAnn was born on August 22, 1931, in Parkston, South Dakota to Nicholas and Martha Boehmer, and was one of six children.  She graduated from Parkston High School in 1949 and attended Mount Marty College (now University) in Yankton, earning a teaching certification in 1951.  She moved to Kimball for her first assignment, to teach 4th grade, and then to Mobridge in 1955, to teach 6th and 7th grade English at General Beadle Elementary School (now Sitting Bull College) for two years.  With six children in tow, she attended Black Hills State College (now University) through seven summers of coursework and living in Spearfish, earning a bachelor’s degree in education in 1972.  For the 1965-66 school year, she was a Head Start teacher in Wakpala Elementary.  In 1968, she started her own preschool, which she operated in her home for 29 years.  

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church played a fundamental role in JoAnn’s life, and it is where she met William (Bill) Omafray, whom she married on August 16, 1956, in Parkston, and together they had six children.  

Educating students, whether at elementary schools for English, St. Joseph’s for Catholic catechism, or at her home preschool for developmental skills, gave JoAnn professional and personal purpose. She fostered and influenced generations of children, many of whom she communicated with throughout her life.  St. Joseph’s Catholic Church provided JoAnn the place to express her faith, hope and charity.  She actively volunteered for myriad church affairs through its women’s organization, Altar Society, and as a steadfast parishioner. She routinely contributed to St. Joseph’s by assisting with various church services and events, by planting and maintaining the flowerbeds, and by acting as a Lay Eucharistic Minister.  Civic engagement brought JoAnn further opportunities to serve and enrich lives, which was a core value of hers.  She joined various community organizations and committees, such as the Hospital Auxiliary, the Community Concert Series team, and the Literary Council.  She served as troop leader for both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, and as a Jaycette member.  She supported the A.H. Brown Library and the Klein Museum with her time and efforts, and for many years she went to the Mobridge Care and Rehabilitation Center (nursing home) to drive some residents to mass at St. Joseph’s, and to make and serve popcorn on Mondays.  Long-lasting friendships committed her to various memberships, such as with a decades-long hobby club for crafting, a card club for Whist, the Beta Group for fellowship and conversation, and a group of purple-hat-wearing ladies for laughter and fun.  Gardening was an essential aspect in JoAnn’s life, and though she did not appreciate the weeds she enjoyed sharing her harvests of potatoes, dill weed, rhubarb, apples, tomatoes and cucumbers with friends and neighbors.  She loved turning the apples into pie, which she proudly offered to produce for multiple occasions, and she spent hot summers canning tomatoes, pickling cucumbers and blanching peas and beans for the freezer.  Walking around town–often with her much-loved dogs and in all manner of weather– was a daily activity that was commonly witnessed by those she passed by and greeted.  Her adventurous six children afforded her a wide variety of places to travel to for a visit and sightseeing, both nationally and internationally.  She cherished and nurtured her nine grandchildren and was to become a great-grandmother next February.  

Because the community of Mobridge was so precious to JoAnn, extraordinary efforts were committed to enable her to live in her beloved home during the twilight months of her life, but the cruelty of dementia proved to be a formidable obstacle.  In October, her family moved her to a senior living residence in Colorado Springs to be nearer her loved ones.

JoAnn is survived by her six children: Michael (Gabriele Odenwald), Mary Jo, Marjorie (Richard Dengler), Mark, Marcia (Thomas Meer), and Melissa (Michael Townley); nine grandchildren Chelsea, Griffin, Roman and Grayson Ollar, Kathleen Omafray-Odenwald, Sophie (Austin) Richmond and Camille Omafray-Dengler, and Isabelle and August Townley; brothers Patrick and Norman, and sister Kathleen (Sister Mariella); brothers-in-law Martin and MacDonald Omafray, and sisters-in-law Mary Boehmer and Carol Omafray.  She was preceded in death by her parents, husband William (Bill), sister Donna May, and brother Norbert.

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