Ora Mae Paetow

Ora Mae Paetow, 89, died Tuesday, August 28, 2012 at the Pioneer Memorial Nursing Home, Viborg. Funeral services will be at 2:00pm Saturday, September 1, 2012 at the Harmony Presbyterian Church, Hurley with burial in the Hurley Cemetery. Visitation will begin at 2:00pm Friday at the Hofmeister-Jones Funeral Chapel, Hurley with family present from 5-7:00pm. Ora Mae Beyer was born on November 3, 1922 to Paul and Martha (Opitz) Beyer. Her family lived in Washington, DC until she was the age of 12 and the family moved to Seat Pleasant, Maryland. Ora Mae went to school and finished the 11th grade. After school her first job was at a bakery. At the age of 18 she worked for the Bond Treasury Building. In the fall of 1944 she met Harry E. Paetow at a barn dance, where he stepped backward onto her toe. They were married June 3, 1945 and born to this union were 7 children, Rita (Dennis) Kenobbie, Hurley, Peggy (Kenny) Baatz, Sioux Falls, Linda (Dale) Hochstetler, Lead, Glen (Shelly) Paetow, Wayne (Shannon) Paetow, Brenda (Bob) Hintz, and Bruce Paetow, all of Hurley. They lived with Grandpa Paul and Grandma Martha Beyer until Harry got out of the service in October 1945. Ora Mae and Harry moved back to South Dakota where they lived with Grandpa Carl Paetow, and brother Herman and Lavon Paetow. They lived in different places for 17 years in Sioux Falls and Rowena for 10 years, before moving to Hurley in 1973. Ora Mae was a housewife all her married life. She loved to garden, and canning everything she grew. She loved to go fishing with Harry; they belonged to the “Happy Hookers”, and mostly loved to spend time with family. The family vacation was always back to Washington, DC every summer for 2 weeks. Grateful for having shared her life were her 7 children and their spouses, 16 grandchildren, 28 grandchildren, and 15 great great grandchildren, and special friend Marlene Hintz, along with a host of relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Harry in 1994, a granddaughter Tracy Hintz, 2 brothers, Paul and Donald, and a sister Emma.