Ann Marie Medenwald

The funeral service for Ann M. Medenwald, 85, of Aberdeen, SD, will be 10:00am, Thursday, July 31, 2025 at Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, with Pastor Matt Spoden officiating. Burial at Riverside Cemetery, Aberdeen. Ann died Sunday, July 27, 2025.
Arrangements by Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 South Main Street.
Ann M. Ellis was born to Frederick & Amalia (Marohl) Ellis, August 9, 1939, at Lidgerwood, ND. She grew up in Lidgerwood and attended school there. She was baptized, confirmed and attended Sunday School at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. She also sang in the choir. After graduation in 1957, she moved with three friends to Minneapolis, MN, where she was employed at Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. On October 3, 1959, she married her high school sweetheart, Kenneth Medenwald, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Lidgerwood, ND. This is the church where Kenneth and his two daughters were also baptized. Ann and Kenneth made their home in Wahpeton until 1967 when they moved to Barnesville, MN. In 1969, they moved to Aberdeen where they have lived ever since. She mentioned that raising their two little girls was the most favorite time of her life. Their home was always open to the girls' friends, and it was a happy, noisy household.
Ann enjoyed gardening, canning, baking, reading, and decorating her home. They had an apple tree, and she made everything possible from those apples. Apple pie was a favorite after school treat for her daughters and their friends. Beet pickles were a favorite for all she shared them with, and dozens of cookies came out of her kitchen.
Ann hosted many family gatherings, holiday dinners and birthday parties for her children. She enjoyed all the family camping outings, snowmobiling, and family vacations. She enjoyed many motorcycle trips with her husband. Ann also did some daycare in her home. When the grandchildren were born, she provided daycare for all four of her grandchildren and considered it a privilege to know them so well. She would mention often all the cute things they said and did.
She will be dearly missed by her daughter, Darci (Todd) Cunningham; grandchildren: Sara Siefken, Lona (Erik) Simon, and Brian (Roxy) Cotten; nine great-grandchildren: Abbie, Sophie and Noah Siefken, Kenleigh, Chapel, Declan, and Ledger Simon, and Brynn and Braylee Cotten; son-in-law, Fred Fischbach; siblings; Pearl Parrish, Gene Ellis, LaFaye Wiese, and Russell Kuzel; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth, daughter, Wendy Fischbach, grandchild Kayla Cunningham, parents, Amalia (Arthur) Kuzel, parent, Frederick Ellis, and her siblings: Glenn Ellis, Lois Abel, and Gwen Bolster.