Elsie V. Moeller, 91, of Estelline passed away Saturday, April 16, 2016 at the Estelline Nursing and Care Center, in Estelline. Funeral services will be at 11:00 am Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Estelline. Visitation will be from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm Monday at Geise Funeral Chapel in Estelline.

Elsie Viola Moeller was born on February 23, 1925, at Bruce, SD, the daughter of Tom and Mathilda “Tilda” (Bredaken) Olson, who were of Norwegian decent. They lived on a family farm near Bruce and Elsie was the youngest of the twelve children. One of her siblings died as an infant. Elsie attended St. Petri Church near Bruce as a child. While she was young, her brother Kelly took over the farm and her parents retired and moved into Bruce. On October 12, 1940, Elsie was married to Raymond Will Moeller at Sibley, IA. Ray was a farmer and they lived on farms near Milbank and owned two farms near Estelline, SD. In 1943 they moved to a larger farm on the east side of the Sioux River four miles south of Estelline. They farmed there for a few years until moving into Estelline. Elsie was a wife and mother who cared for her husband and three daughters, Neva (John) Mackey, Connie (Daniel) Price and Donna (Douglas) Geringer, in addition to her mother, who lived with them at times. She was never employed outside of their home, but was able to help with the farm work and cook for the hired help and a number of relatives, who would come and visit often.

Elsie and Ray were members of Trinity Lutheran Church, where she belonged to the Women’s Circle and they helped with many church projects. Elsie enjoyed cooking, baking, crocheting, camping, and traveling with friends and family. They would go to the State Fair every year and Elsie would often take a picnic lunch of fried chicken and potato salad. They owned many campers and purchased campers for their girls so they could also enjoy camping with them. Many trips to campgrounds near Estelline, the State Fair in Huron and Valley Fair were shared with their children and grandchildren. Elsie and Ray also traveled the country, including Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, California, the World’s Fair in Seattle and Niagara Falls. Elsie would write the details of some of their trips in small notebooks.

The Moeller family consists of six grandchildren, Teresa (Darryl) Moore and Nancy (Mark) Geerdes, Raela (Dave) Weber and Scott (Nichole) Price, and Valerie (Adam) Norman and Jason Geringer; sixteen great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.

In 2000, Ray entered the Estelline Care Center and died of Parkinson’s disease in October 2003. Elsie continued to live at home until she became a resident of the Care Center in October 2009. Elsie enjoyed visits from her family, bible study and the many activities at the Care Center.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ray; her parents; her siblings and many other relatives and friends.