Mavis Holt

MAVIS ANNABELLA HOLT was born to Robert and Edna (DeReu) DeSchepper on May 1, 1925, on the family farm in Eden Township of Pipestone County, Minnesota, where she was raised and attended country school in District #23. Upon completion of her education, she helped on the family farm with raising turkeys, while also working part-time from 1944-49 at Otto’s Golden Rule Grocery Store in Jasper, Minnesota.

On January 25, 1949, she was united in marriage to Gordon Holt in the Rectory of the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jasper. Following their marriage, they made their home on Gordon’s family farm in Alliance Township of Moody County, where Gordon and Mavis provided for and raised their family of five children. After Gordon’s death in 2020, she continued to live independently in her home helping her son, Wayne, oversee the farming operation until the time of her death. On January 14, 2022, she entered the Dell Rapids Avera Hospital and was on palliative care there for a short time before her death on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at the age of 96 years, 8 months, and 18 days.

Mavis was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jasper where she was baptized and confirmed. She was also a member of the Altar Society of St. Joseph, the Sons of Norway, the American Legion Auxiliary, and the Live ’n Learn Club. She spent many hours cooking and sewing for her family, working on the farm alongside Gordon and their children, and in her large vegetable garden. She enjoyed cutting hair for family members and neighbors. During the fall and winter, Mavis loved hand making many quilts and quillows for her home and gifts. She was a lefse maker extraordinaire, making lefse for Looks Market in Sioux Falls by the trunk load for several years. In preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas, she could be found busily making lefse for family and friends, both far and near.

Mavis is lovingly remembered by her five children, Robert (Gayle) Holt of Rogers, Minnesota; Wayne (Ramona) Holt of Jasper, Minnesota; Jean (Ron) Giese of Maple Grove, Minnesota; Becky (David) Foster of Jasper, Minnesota; and Nancy Lund of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; 8 grandchildren, Danny Giese, Jason Giese, Laura Nelson, Marie Foster, Heath Harding, Dustin Holt, Courtney Wall, and Adam Lund; 12 great grandchildren, Carter and Connor Holt, Josephine and Eleanor Geschwind, Elyse and Micah Nelson, Dayton and Kinsley Wall, Dylan and Trevor Kasma, and Hailey and Genesis Harding; and two sisters, Darlene Houg and Patricia Fritz of Jasper, Minnesota. She was preceded in death by her husband Gordon; her parents; an infant brother; and her brother, Robert DeSchepper.