Marie Cecilie Jensen Ingalls

March 31, 1936 – April 15, 2023
Marie Cecilie Jensen Ingalls, 87, lifelong South Dakota resident, died peacefully on April 15, 2023. Marie was born to Ida and Jens Peder (J.P.) Jensen and lived on a homestead ranch 5 miles east of Faith, SD. She attended school in Faith and graduated as Valedictorian from FHS in 1954. A year later, she married the love of her life, Dale Ingalls. They lived near Opal, on the Ingalls Angus Ranch in Meade County, where they raised two children, Duane and Delane. Marie and Dale partnered in the operations and decisions of the ranch.
She started teaching in rural schools in 1956, while working towards her teaching certification. She taught K-8 for nine years, achieved her M.S. in School Administration at Black Hills State, then working as Principal for Meade County rural schools from 1976-1981. She was also a secretary at Boeing Industries (during missile base activity in the area), as well as a community piano teacher and part-time pianist as a member of Opal Community Church.
Marie was active in business and civic affairs. In 1978, she started the Ingalls Department Store in Sturgis, SD and the Hilltop Store in Faith, SD a few years later. She enjoyed being a 4-H leader for 15 years and also served in leadership positions in numerous organizations, including the SD Stockgrowers Association, SD Farm Bureau, Meade County and SD GOP Women, and the Sturgis and Faith Chambers of Commerce. She was elected to three terms in the SD House of Representatives (1986-1992), serving as the Majority Party Whip in her last term, and was a delegate to several Republican Conventions.
Family was always important, and she and Dale loved time with their grandchildren. Marie enjoyed cooking, keeping her Danish and Norwegian family traditions alive, cake decorating, gardening, sewing, hosting family and community gatherings at their ranch home, late-night card games and time with friends, country dancing with Dale, and enjoying their Black Hills cabin. Always up for an adventure, they loved to travel, making frequent trips to visit family in Denmark and to many other countries in Europe, as well as Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand, to name a few.
Marie personified resilience. She endured the loss of their son to gun violence, tragic losses of multiple family members, total loss of their ranch house to fire, and survival of her brain cancer surgery in 2000. Defying the odds that she might never walk or talk again was a near miracle that gave us several more years of the gift of her spirit. Through it all, she relied on her faith and family.
She is survived by her daughter, Delane Ingalls (Dan) Vanada; grandchildren, Kelsi, Aaron, and Kirstin Vanada, Samantha (Price) Nield, and Kealy Branson; and brother Eldon (Mary Jean) Jensen. Marie is preceded in death by her husband, Dale; son, Duane Ingalls; parents, J.P. and Ida Jensen; and siblings Volmer Jensen, Edythe Dexheimer, Edwin Jensen, and Margaret Burnett.
A community memorial gathering and lunch will be held at the Faith Community Center at 11:00 am, Sunday, May 7th, 2023 with visitation at the same time at the Faith Memorial Chapel, followed by a celebration of Marie’s life at Bethel Lutheran Church at 2:00 pm, the church her father designed and built. She will then be laid to rest at the Opal Community Cemetery. Memorial donations will be given to the Susan B. Komen Cancer Foundation and the Bethel Lutheran Church.
Condolences to the Ingalls family can be sent through our website at www.evansonjensenfuneralhome.com