Charity Grace Hoffelt

1978 - 2019

Sioux Falls, SD - Charity Grace Hoffelt, 41, passed August 11, 2019.

A funeral service will be held 2:00 pm Friday, August 16, 2019 at First Methodist Church with family present to greet friends at 1:00pm. Interment will be 1:00 pm Saturday, August 17, 2019 at Rose Hill Memorial Garden Cemetery in Marshalltown, IA.

Charity Grace was born on April 8, 1978 to Reverend Rick and Terry Dee in Omaha, Nebraska. She entered this world an extraordinary miracle as God intervened and changed her blood type so she could live. She was the fifth of six daughters, likely the smartest and most talented of them all. Her true, deep heart of mercy motivated her in all she did, living out the meaning of her God-ordained name.

Charity‟s older sisters, Katie and Anna, were thrilled when she was born. They saw Charity as their own baby, and often took care of her while Mom and Dad worked. As a child, Charity enjoyed playing make-believe with her baby sister, Susie; whether it was Strawberry Shortcake or Cabbage Patch dolls. When that got boring, she and Susie would steal cheese slices and hide behind the couch to eat them.

From a young age, Charity loved Jesus, animals and babies. When she was two, she would carry around her beloved teddy bear named “Orange Baby,” who was always covered with multiple band-aids. From the very beginning, Charity showed care and compassion, and wanted to make people feel better.

As she became a teenager, she got highly involved in academics and music. Her mother called her “twinkle fingers” because of how her long fingers graced the piano and the clarinet. By her senior year of high school, she achieved the honor of first chair clarinet for the state of Iowa. As her older sisters got married, one of her favorite things to do was to hold their babies. She loved her nieces and nephews and enjoyed playing games with them.

After graduating high school and completing one year at Northwestern College, Charity pursued a doctorate of Pharmacy at South Dakota State University where she met her loving husband of 15 years, Zane Hoffelt. During college, Charity got her first beloved pug named Gwen. She would take Gwen almost everywhere she went, including the multiple trips home to visit her family. Special trips included visiting her “twin” sister Katie in Missouri, babysitting her niece and nephews at Anna‟s farm, and skiing with all of her sisters and her Dad in Colorado.

Charity and Zane had three wonderful children: Aida Louise, Rosabelle Grace and Alden Ashenafi. Charity put her whole heart into advocating for her children and cultivating the gifts and talents of each one. Her heart of mercy was evident in how she and Zane traveled to Ethiopia to adopt Alden when he was six months old. She loved supporting her girls in all of their activities, especially their dance endeavors. She deposited her intelligence in all three children, as each are outstanding students. All the more, they are each unique and compassionate children who will undoubtedly live out her legacy in both love and grace.

Family was a part of Charity‟s DNA. She loved her family and loved when they could all get together. She was a fantastic hostess and always put so much thought into the activities that her family did together. When she put on a party, she put on a party!

Charity worked as a pharmacist for many years, primarily at Omnicare and Avera in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She would often visit her patients in the hospital even though that was not a part of her role. She cared deeply about the people she served and desired to help them heal through medicine. Out of her own struggle with chronic pain, Charity pursued a certification in neuropsychological medicine and pain management so she could better help others with similar struggles. Just prior to her death, she was planning to start a pain management support group.

In recent years, Charity expressed her own story through beautiful paintings and mixed media. She was always doing something creative and making hand-crafted gifts, but her family was especially amazed at how artistic she truly was. Her artwork was reflective, thoughtful and inspirational.

The biggest part of the life of Charity Grace was her faith. She persevered and fought the good fight, even amidst senseless trials and „unanswered‟ prayers. She loved Jesus. And she loved people. She showed no judgment or bias. She was accepting and understanding of people who were different, disregarded, and “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40), and showed forgiveness when others hurt her (Ephesians 4:32). Her deep sensitivity often caused her heart to be burdened, so heavily at times it was debilitating. And now, those heavy burdens she carried are fully surrendered to her redeeming Savior. She is free from the cares of this world, and embraced in the arms of her Heavenly Father. No more pain or sorrow. She‟s been rescued. She is home.

Charity Grace was preceded in death by her two older sisters, Christina and Paula Dee, her maternal and paternal grandparents, John and Jane Greiner, and Paul and Helen Dee, and her dogs, Gwen and Harley. She leaves to cherish her memory her children, Aida Louise, Rosabelle Grace, and Alden Ashenafi; her parents, Richard and Theresa Dee; her sisters Catharine Goodwin (Kenneth), Anna Van Gorp (John), and Susanna Fife (John); and her dogs Nina and Sawyer. She also leaves many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins and other devoted family members.