Margaret A Dalthorp
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Margaret Ann (Okey) Dalthorp, age 90 of Sioux Falls SD passed away on December 23rd, 2024 at Ava’s Hospice House after a short battle with mesothelioma.
Memorial Services will be held at 11am Saturday, January 4, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church, 2300 S. West Avenue. Mugs has requested that everyone wear BRIGHT COLORS. She wants to remember the GOOD TIMES and not dwell in sadness. Visitation begins at noon on Friday, January 3, 2025 with the family present from 4-6pm that evening at Miller Funeral Home 507 S. Main Avenue. (A private family burial will precede the memorial service on Saturday) The funeral service will be live-streamed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwh9B8CQtgM
Margaret, better known as Mugs to her friends and family was born in Cassville WI, on April 5, 1934, the fourth child of Martha and J. Rusk Okey. Mugs graduated from Cassville High School in 1951. After high school she went on to pursue her nursing degree from Finley School of Nursing in Dubuque IA, graduating in 1954; after which she went to Detroit for post graduate work in OB nursing. Once done in Detroit, she went on to anesthesia school at Northwestern in Minneapolis and became a CRNA. Mugs proceeded to work at a variety of hospitals in the Upper Midwest, including Director of Nursing at the Onawa, IA hospital and her most beloved position as a CRNA at Sioux Valley Hospital (Sanford) from 1967-1985.
In 1968, on the heels of the end of her first marriage she gave birth to Michelle, her only child. Shortly thereafter, in June of 1973, she met the love of her life, Dave Dalthorp. They were married on January 18, 1974 at which time Dave adopted Michelle as his own. He would be the best thing that ever happened to Mugs and Michelle! After his death in 1992 from a lymphoma, Mugs joined many social groups. She was an active member of Elmwood Women’s Golf League and past president/member of PEO Chapter AQ. She had a tennis group, bridge groups, duplicate bridge group, mahjongg, knitting, coffee and lunch groups. She loved to socialize and be ‘on the go’. She truly loved each and every person she had a friendship with…always saying ‘to have a friend, you need to be a friend.’ She was also very faithful; she was a 55+ year member of First Presbyterian Church and had been active as a deacon and on the décor team as well as being a volunteer for an afterschool program that was held at the church for kids from a nearby junior high school.
Grateful and blessed to have shared her life is her daughter Michelle (Thie) and son-in-law Travis and their children Zachary, Madison and Ellie; brother, Jim Okey, Athens, GA; and sister Ginny Rauch, Dubuque, IA and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Dave; two sisters, Mary Hochhausen and Kathleen Biggin; and a brother, Richard Okey.
In lieu of flowers please direct memorials to:
Live Inspired 365 – a nonprofit founded by Michelle which supports mental health initiatives and suicide prevention – 3701 W. 49th St #108 SF SD 57106 (www.liveinspired365.org)
First Presbyterian Church – 2300 S. West Ave SF SD 57105 (www.fpcsiouxfalls.org)
Ava’s House at Sanford – 1320 W. 17th St SF SD 57104 (www.sanfordhealth.org)