Alvira V. Spomer

CLERGY
Rev. Brian Bucklew
MUSIC
Organist ~ Delilah Hahn
ACTIVE CASKETBEARERS
Morgan Kleinsasser
Mitchell Kleinsasser
Kelly Frey
Ed Rembold
Brad Deffenbaugh
Mike Berg
HONORARY CASKETBEARERS
Sherri Zachariasen
Vera Olson
Allen Dvorak
DeLyle Dvorak
Jean Laing
Alvira Victoria Spomer (nee Rembold) of Tripp, SD, beloved mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and friend, slipped her earthly bonds July 28, 2016. She rose to walk with Jesus and join her husband, Walter, her parents, sisters, cousins and many other family members and friends who went before her.
Alvira was a member of the greatest generation, hard working country folk who weathered the storms of drought, depression and the inconsistent rewards of an agricultural economy. A beautician for 60 years, Alvira managed Spomer’s Beauty Shop in Kaylor and The Hair Pin in Tripp, now owned by her long time friend and associate, Lynn Stoebner. Dozens of women had their crowning glory brushed, clipped and permed to perfection by Alvira.
In her spare time this energetic woman helped her husband cut and wrap meat in Spomer’s Market, baked thousands of pies sold at The Lunch Box cafe in Tripp, cooked and waited tables in the same establishment and, along with Walt, prepared traditional German foods for weekly German Night at The Lunch Box. In the 1960s Alvira worked with Walt, their two sons, Robert and Ronald, and many dedicated and hard working employees like Richard Lagge, Ole Vetter, Esther Weisser, and Rosie Breitkreutz, operating food stands at the Hutchinson County Fairgrounds during various dances, fairs and sporting events. Alvira baked dozens of her spectacular pies for sale.
After the tables were cleared and the doors locked, Alvira, intuitively artistic, usually retired to a leisurely, late night creative session of crocheting, painting ceramics and sewing. Each summer she maintained a garden and canned a winter’s supply of fruits and vegetables. Often she made old fashioned lye soap which she and many daughters of the Dirty Thirties knew to be a superior cleanser.
Sundays found Alvira in church. She sang in many choirs directed by Walt, taught Sunday school and represented Emmaus Lutheran at Lutheran Layman’s League conventions. She and Walt raised money for missions and collected shoes for orphans. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Alvira and Walt journeyed to Latvia to help restore Lutheran churches long banned by communists.
The youngest of five children, Alvira was literally born, in a sod farm house north of Kaylor on October 18, 1926 to Katherine Kraemer and Fred Rembold. Three years later the economic Crash of 1929 guaranteed she would not be raised in the lap of luxury. The ensuing Dust Bowl years of the 1930s taught her the values of hard work, economy, persistence, family and fidelity that would serve her well the rest of her life. 
Alvira was preceded in death by her mother and father, sisters Edwina and Aurelia, brother Lorenz and many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and friends. She is mourned deeply by oldest son Robert Lynn Spomer and his wife, Kay Slama of Minnesota; son Ronald Lee and his wife Elizabeth of Idaho; granddaughter Sarah Katy Spomer of Texas; sister Frieda Dvorak of Tripp; and dozens of friends around the world.