BETTY KIRWAN

Betty (Steffen) Kirwan, 87, passed away at Bethany Lutheran Home in Sioux Falls on Sunday, August 9, 2020. Rosary will be Saturday, August 22 at 10:00 a.m., at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Lake Andes with visitation following. Memorial service will follow at 11:00 a.m., at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Lake Andes following the visitation. Burial will be at St. Mary's Cathlic Cemetery in Spencer, NE at a later date. Arrangements by Koehn Bros. Funeral Home.

Betty Ann Steffen was born August 24, 1932 at her parent’s farm South of Colome. She was the fifth of eight children born to Friederich and Josephine (Schroeder) Steffen. She attended rural school and then graduated from Colome High School in 1950. Betty then attended Southern State Teachers College in Springfield. In August 1951, she started teaching rural school by Colome. Her yearly salary was $1,557.

On April 24, 1954, she married Daniel Duane Kirwan. They farmed in the Randall Valley and she taught rural school south of Lake Andes. They moved to Pickstown in 1970.

Throughout her life she enjoyed tending her plants (she had a green thumb) and gardening, canning and baking, word finds and a good game of cribbage or scrabble. She was a member of St. Mark’s Catholic Church, Catholic Daughters, a 4-H leader and VFW Auxiliary.

Betty is survived by her two children: Fred (Sally) Kirwan of Pickstown and Nancy Kirwan of Sioux Falls; grandson Austin (Natalie) Donley of Sioux Falls, brother Jack ‘Fritz’ Steffen of Winner and sister Doris Zimmerle of Huntsville, Ala.

She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, three brothers: Leonard, Bob and Vic Steffen, two sisters: Helen Steffen and Stella Doty.