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Last updated 03/24/2008

Ethel Rowley
Ethel Rowley, 89, of Sioux Falls, died peacefully at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls surrounded by family October 5, 2007. Funeral services were held at The Inn on Westport in Sioux Falls on Monday, October 8, with internment following at the Pleasant Hills Cemetery in Alcester. Family and friends gathered for a luncheon at the United Church of Christ in Alcester following the graveside service.
Born Ethel Lorraine to Bartlett and Belle Tuntland on January 17, 1918 during a blizzard at her family farm near Canton, she attended a one-room country school and Canton High School. She graduated from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. During her junior year she was named to Mortar Board and was listed in the Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges in 1940. She worked at the Federal Land Bank of Omaha, then became a teacher, working in high schools in Sutherland, IA and Menno, SD.
Ethel married Marlowe Rowley on September 29, 1945; they lived on a farm near Alcester, SD until his death in 1977.  For several years, Ethel summered on the farm and wintered in Sioux Falls, eventually moving to Sioux Falls.
Ethel was very much a Norwegian at heart. Her grandparents had immigrated from Norway and spoke both English and Norwegian in their family home. Ethel was confirmed a Lutheran in the Norwegian language at a rural church near Inwood, IA.
Ethel was a member of the Opti-Mrs. for 50 years – which is noteworthy given the fact that she suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for 60 years and was confined to a wheel chair for the last 14 years of her life. She loved music, and despite the MS, she remained adventurous and good sport who was up for anything. From her wheel chair, she traveled to Hawaii, Italy, Belgium, Greece, and Norway - always with a smile on her face and a kind word for those around her.
For the last 15 years Ethel lived with her daughter Elaine in Sioux Falls, SD where she enriched the lives of David, Alexis, and their extended family and friends.
Grateful for having shared her life are her daughter Elaine Rowley (Alexis & David Xenakis); niece Donna (Walter) Strong; nephew Robert (Jackie) Dickey; and close friends Benjamin and Krista Levisay and family. Ethel was predeceased by her parents Bartlett and Belle Tuntland; and her husband Marlowe Rowley.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National MS Society www.NationalMSSociety.org .

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