Eunice Mansfield
Eunice Lavonne (Burke) Mansfield, a long-time resident of Sioux Falls, SD, passed peacefully away in the loving presence of family at Good Samaritan Village on February 17, 2025. She was 101 years old.
Eunice was born on November 29, 1923 in Irene, SD to Oscar and Esther (Hansen) Burke. During her early childhood, Eunice lived in Davis, SD, and she was always grateful to have survived the big tornado of 1928 that destroyed the town. She went to her first three years of school in Davis, then moved on to Viborg, SD, where she completed the 8th grade. Her early high school years were split between Tacoma, WA, Seattle, WA, Albany, OR, and Sunnyvale, CA as her family worked and traveled to find their way through the depression years. They eventually landed in Lennox, SD, where she graduated from high school in 1941.
Eunice graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls in 1945, but took a high school teaching position in 1944 in Canistota, SD, prior to her own college graduation. She then worked in the Minneapolis office of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America from 1946-1948. She moved to Great Falls, Montana, and served as a correspondence teacher for Lutheran Sunday School at Home by Mail and Radio until 1950. It was in Great Falls that Eunice met Edward Mansfield, whom she would marry.
Eunice and Ed were married in Arizona on March 7, 1951, and a week later, Ed was sent overseas for duty in Korea and Japan for the next 18 months. During that long time of newly-wed separation, Eunice worked at the Lutheran Student Center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, then as a 6th grade teacher at Bancroft Elementary School in Sioux Falls.
In 1953, when Ed entered dental School, Eunice began teaching high school journalism in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1958, they welcomed their first child and moved to Sioux Falls where they settled to raise their family. During the next 20 years, Eunice enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom, active in many community organizations--never shying away from leadership roles in any of them--including in Sunday School, PTA, Dental Auxiliary, Young People’s Theater, Swan Lake Improvement Association, WELCA and her children’s numerous school and extra-curricular activities. When the kids were older, Eunice embraced the challenge of working as a tutor at Coolidge High School at the South Dakota Penitentiary and as a transportation coordinator for Project CAR.
Eunice was the family historian, knowing every story and every detail about her large extended family, and she took a great deal of pride in her Danish and Norwegian heritage. She was a lifelong Lutheran, active for over 6 decades at First Lutheran in Sioux Falls. Eunice played a mean game of scrabble well into her 90’s, and she often enjoyed late nights of jigsaw puzzles, brownies, and conversation. She was a wise and loyal friend and confidant, and was often sought out for trusted advice. Above all, Eunice created a home where her family always knew that they were loved and where their friends always knew they were welcome. She loved to have people come over--whether for coffee, for dinner, for a weekend, for a semester, or for a piece of pie during a blizzard. Hospitality was Eunice’s gift. All were welcome in her home. She especially loved to have guests come to the cabin at Swan Lake, where she extended warm, casual hospitality.
Eunice is survived by her three children, Margaret “Meg" Mansfield of Gig Harbor, WA, Lisa Nell Mansfield Jarvis (David) of Colorado Springs, CO, and Paul Mansfield (Kyle) of Livermore, CA; four grandchildren, Leah Jarvis of Colorado Springs, Benjamin Jarvis (Jordan) of Colorado Springs, Parker Mansfield (Geoff), of Little River, CA, and Kayden Mansfield, Livermore, CA. Eunice is also survived by Oliver Wynn Jarvis—her eagerly awaited great-grandchild—who was born the day she died. Eunice was preceded in death by her husband, Edward Mansfield, her mother, Esther Hansen Burke, her father, Oscar Burke, and her sister, Marilyn Burke Maurstad.
A celebration of life will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, March 21, 2025 at First Lutheran Church, and will be live streamed on the First Lutheran YouTube channel.