Christine Sue Woodard, age 97, of White, passed away on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, at home under hospice care.
Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at the United Methodist Church in White, SD. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, also at the church with an Eastern Star Service at 7 p.m. Eidsness Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.
Christine Sue Woodard was the sixth of eight children of Mark Lee and Gladys Marie (Krebs) Yeoman. She was preceded in death by her husband, Clair E. Woodard, on Oct. 29, 1994, also by her father and mother, brothers and sisters, and their spouses: Frank (Louise), Florence (Gabe), Ruth (Jed), Bill (Nora), Robert, Ramona (Dale), and J Lew (Irma).
She is survived by sons Robert E. (Julie) Woodard of Brooklyn, MI, Ronald L. (Donna) Woodard of Sioux Falls, SD, and Richard C. (Joanne) Woodard of Ft Wayne, IN, one Daughter-in-Law Jenee (Sinkule) Woodard of Jackson, MI, 10 grandchildren: Jaie, Phil, Bryan, Mercedes, Erin, and Quentin Woodard, Chad Von Minden, Dayna, Haylie, and Dallas Mead, and one great-grandchild: Amethyst.
Christine Sue Yeoman was born in Kaw City, Oklahoma, on Sept. 29, 1926. She started her education at a two-room country schoolhouse in Clark County, KS. Her second through eighth grades were in Kaw City and Alva, OK. She attended high school in Alva, OK, Bucklin, and Ashland, KS, and graduated from Ashland High School in 1944. She received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Northwestern Oklahoma State College in 1948. She furthered her education by attending a Sacramento California State College summer session.
She taught school in Ashland, Moreland, and Winchester, KS, then Rocklin, CA.
While teaching in California, she took advantage of the bus company’s Round Trip Anywhere ticket one summer and stopped in Brookings to visit friends’ relatives in White. That is where she met Clair.
Christine and Clair were married on July 4, 1954, in Fredonia, KS, and moved into their home in White, SD.
She taught at Bruce and White High Schools. When she and Clair had three sons, she retired from teaching to spend time with her family. When her boys joined Cub Scouts, Christine became a Den Mother and later a Den Leader Coach. She received the first Den Mother of the Year Award from the Sioux Council, BSA. Christine later returned to teaching part-time and substituted at Deubrook HS. She was a Charter member and president of the Deubrook Community Library Board.
An active United Methodist Church of White and United Methodist Women member, she served on and chaired many committees and sang in the choir.
She was a life member and past president of Higgins-Jesson Unit No. 88, American Legion Auxiliary, and a member of the D.A.R.
A life member and Past Worthy Matron of White Star Chapter No. 16, OES. She was Grand Warder of the Grand Chapter of SD, OES, in 1975.
She was the last of her generation of both the Yeoman and Krebs families.
Memorials are preferred to the Eastern Star (ESTARL Scholarship), Deubrook Community Library, or cancer research.