Verna (Hetland) Wire Lyons, 92, Artesian, died Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013 in the Prairie Good Samaritan Center at Miller.
Funeral services will be Saturday, Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. in the Resurrection Lutheran Church, Mitchell. Burial will be in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery at Artesian. Visitation will be Friday from 5-7 p.m. at the Bittner Funeral Chapel in Mitchell.
A memorial fund has been established to the Mount Pleasant Memorial Cemetery Association.
Verna (Hetland) Wire Lyons was born July 25, 1921 at Artesian, daughter of Henry and Anna (Tysdal) Hetland. She grew up attending rural grade school and graduated from Artesian High School in 1939. Her secondary education included a two-year teaching degree from Augustana College at Sioux Falls. She taught elementary classes in several eastern South Dakota communities.
In 1945 she married Douglas E. Wire at Spencer. They farmed in the Forestburg/Artesian area and raised two children, Gloria Carolyn and Paul Douglas.
Following the death of her husband, Douglas, in 1965, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from the University of South Dakota and taught in the Vermillion School system for several years before moving to Rapid City.
In 1976 she married Albert V. Lyons of Rapid City. They owned and operated the Sunset Motel in Belle Fourche for a number of years before retiring in Rapid City. She was preceded in death by her husband, Albert, in August 2007.
She was active in Calvary Lutheran Church, Sons of Norway, The Black Hills Rosemaling Association, Rapid City Society for Genealogical Research and the Black Hills Calligraphy Guild.
Verna’s greatest interest was reaching out to her many friends and family through her delicious meals, strong coffee, great pies, e-mail messages, or personal phone calls.
She is survived by her daughter, Gloria (Dennis) Keck, St. Lawrence;  son, Paul (Lori) Wire, Rapid City; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren;  three sisters-in-law, Arlis Hetland, Mitchell, Beverly (Oling) Wire, Mitchell, and Lavonne (Wire) Dinzl, Minneapolis, Minn.
She was preceded in death by her husbands, Douglas and Albert; one brother, Robert Hetland; and her parents.