Ellen Jean Anderson, 99, died Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Sioux Falls.

Services will be held on Saturday, June 10, at 1 p.m. at the 4-H Building in Forestburg. Internment will occur after the services, with a fellowship luncheon to follow. In lieu of flowers, please plant a tree in her memory or make a donation to the Sanborn Central School Library. 

Ellen Jean was born in Mitchell to Agnes I. and Flores Hinde. She was the first of their children, followed by Mary, Margaret, and Richard Hinde.

Ellen Jean attended school in Forestburg and graduated from Forestburg High School in 1941. An excellent student, she then attended South Dakota State College and studied nursing. She completed her nursing degree in 1946. Ellen Jean lived in Seattle in 1946/47 and nursed there. Then, she returned to South Dakota to work at the Methodist Hospital in Mitchell, where she spent the rest of her working life.

On Dec. 18, 1948, she married Dee N. Talley in Mitchell. Following a trip to Memphis, Tenn., they returned to rural Forestburg. Dee and Ellen Jean had four children, Kevin, James, Linda and Bruce. 

In 1981, Dee died of a heart attack. Ellen Jean continued to work until age 67. In 1996, she married Gene Anderson. For the next several years, Ellen Jean and Gene split time between his home in Oklahoma and hers in Forestburg. Gene died in 2002 and Ellen Jean lived the rest of her life in South Dakota. 

Ellen Jean had a lively sense of humor. Her interests were wide, and she always seemed to have a book at her side. With a keen eye for quality writing, she could be depended upon to give great reads to people as gifts. She also was a churchgoer and believer in Jesus Christ. Ellen Jean loved to travel. In addition, Ellen Jean loved the natural world; she hunted the pasque flower, watched birds, and gardened for most of her life. She was a great conversationalist with broad interests. She was also a proud and lifelong Democrat and liberal. Ellen Jean read to children in Mitchell Schools while she lived at Wesley Acres in Mitchell, volunteered at the Prehistoric Indian Village nearby and helped with bingo at the nursing home into her 90s. She was conscientious about diet and exercise and walked daily up to and including May 3, 2023, when she suffered a stroke.

Ellen Jean is survived by sister, Margaret Lawler; son, Bruce (Elena) Talley; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; and her friend, Janet Nelson.

Ellen Jean was predeceased by her parents, Agnes and Flores Hinde; her husband, Dee Talley; her children, Kevin, Linda, and James Talley; siblings, Mary (Ole) Harder and Richard (Shirley) Hinde; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Curtis and Mary Jo Talley, Milton and Shirley Talley Cameron, and Bob Lawler; and dear friends, Marion Judy, Genevieve Dent, and Rolland “Ike” Petesch.