Mary Hemminger, 82, Woonsocket, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 in Prairie View Care Center, Woonsocket.
Funeral services were Dec. 15 in Bittner Funeral Chapel, Mitchell. Burial was in Westlawn Cemetery, Letcher.
Mary Ruth Hemminger was born May 24, 1930 in Willow Springs, Mo., to John and Fern (Ziegler) Essink.
In 1936 she moved with her family to Artesian.
She graduated from Artesian High School in 1948 and then attended Madison College, where she received a teaching degree.
On June 9, 1951, she married Cecil Hemminger in the Methodist Church at Pipestone, Minn.
They resided in Canada for five years and then in 1958 they purchased a farm west of Letcher.
She taught at rural schools in Sanborn and Davison counties.
In 1965, they moved to the Sheldon Hemminger farm south of Letcher.
In 2005, she made  her home at Prairie View Care Center.
Grateful for having shared her life are her daughter, Sheilla (Jerry) Bereza, Solsgirth, Manitoba, Canada; two sons Sheldon Hemminger, Letcher, and William (Martha) Hemminger, LeGrange, Ky.; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; one sister, Joann (Ellis) Ross, Watford City, N.D.; and one brother, John (Penny) Essink, Lead.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Cecil; a sister, Opal Sprauge and husband Stanley; and her parents.